


Lavina | Shamal

by Night-Mare (Aoife)



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Adorable Kyōya, Aftermath of Marital Rape, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different Guardians, Discussions of Marital Rape, Fake Marriage/Marriage of Convenience, Fluff, Kyōya-tan, Lavina is one of Shamal's Alternate Identities, Other, POV Shamal, POV Third Person Limited, Past Relationship(s), Pre-Canon, Rating May Change, Time Skips, Vignettes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2020-01-14 11:26:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 35
Words: 26,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18475297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aoife/pseuds/Night-Mare
Summary: Lavina is his alter-ego, his civilian indulgence; flameless, soft, pretty, and talented in a way that he can't show off in front of the wider mafia. But she also leaves him vulnerable in other ways. Vulnerable to falling in love, to being seduced, to spread his legs for a man that flatters him - to forget that the illusion is complete.Hayato, and the necessity of escaping to Japan ruin the illusion.





	1. Chapter 1

Lavina is his alter-ego, his civilian indulgence; flameless, soft, pretty, and talented in a way that he can't show off in front of the wider mafia. But she also leaves him vulnerable in other ways. Vulnerable to falling in love, to being seduced, to spread his legs for a man that flatters him - to forget that the illusion is complete. 

It ties up most of his Flames and other defences, that illusion, and it's not until Don Falco - and he laughs in bitter hysterics when he realises that the man that had seduced him is a Don, one who'd even tried to contract him as an assassin - has him installed in the 'family' castle with a midwife he recognises that he realises how deep down the rabbit hole he'd allowed himself to fall - and that 'stopping' being Lavina will mean losing the tiny flickering ball of Stormy Flames and attitude incubating in his womb.

He ends up killing his way out - slitting more throats than he means to, leaving the young heiress as Donna presumptive (given that she already has poison cooking, he suspects that she'll be okay, especially since a decent proportion of the Family are long term retainers) and, given that Lavina is a legal entity with a Japanese passport, makes good his escape via that route. 

Japan is fucking touristy until he _really_ embraces the role of Lavina, and starts indulging in wearing furisode in the sort of prints that fit her persona. It emphasises their Japanese heritage enough that people stop treating him as a tourist, and the Flame 'wards' on the yakuza's playgrounds stop repelling him, too. 

Which is how he notices Tsuyoshi Asari. It's only acute senses that let him spot the odd fluctuation in the man's Flames through the mess that grief has made of them, but it's the way the raging tempest in his womb calms when he's near the man that has him approaching him. Hayato - he's already named his little tempest, a wish for him to fly on his own unclipped wings - flares in delight, and there's an answering flare from the tiny anomaly in Tsuyoshi's Flames.


	2. Chapter 2

"So, do you have a name for the little one nestling in your Flames yet?" The man's hand twitches towards the sword and then he looks up and realises it's a woman asking - one who is also pregnant - and his hand stills again. "And what's the story behind his presence? I'll share mine if it helps."

"I'm not imagining him?" The question is heartbreaking, especially given the grief rippling through the man's Flames. 

"Gods, no. Your Flames are just doing a very good job of hiding him. I'm guessing that you lost his mother?" The man nods. "You've got a Mist secondary -"

"- not my Flame. Eiko was a Mist -" he'd work on that denial; some of the Flames were definitely not the swordsman's own, but there was an underlying inclination to their use that would make hiding from those who might follow either of them easier. "- she was the Guardian to a Sky." 

He winces; he'd seen signs of recent instabilities in the yakuza playgrounds he's dipped in to get some of the items he needed. A Sky being killed would explain that; the death throes of that Flame type could destroy a community. "I've seen the scars. It's why I wasn't planning to stay here much longer. I've been hearing rumours about a sanctuary town south of here? Run by the Hibari, but I haven't been able to get an audience with any of them -"

"- Namimori. I suppose going home for Takeshi's birth might be a sensible idea. Who are you running from?" He makes a face and shares his story; the Rain winces and makes a proposition that hits about six birds with one stone, and is completely unexpected, and he presses a hand to his belly as Hayato's brilliant tempest fades briefly and there's a tiny flicker of gleeful Sky, and he has to bite his inner cheek rather than try to scold Hayato for being a manipulative little shit at less than six months fetal development. He was so fucking doomed. 

"- as long as it's only a marriage of convenience." 

Tsuyoshi laughs and he tilts his head in question. "I'll explain once the boys are born." He raises an eyebrow but the Rain shakes his head. "Let me grieve first, and then I'll tell you a bit more of Eiko and I's story." He makes a mental note to interrogate him later and leaves the matter alone. 

"So, what do we need to do?"

"Visit Hibari Mei-Lin; she can sign off on our koseki." He squeaks, and Tsuyoshi smiles indulgently. "She's my, uh, third cousin if I remember correctly. Maybe second once removed; I can never remember how Europeans measure it. She's just Cousin Mei-Lin to me."

"Hayato-kun is an unholy brat with a tiny fragment of Sky Flames, and fuck knows where he got Vongola-grade fucking intuition; it's certainly not from me, and his late unlamented sire wasn't a Sky." Tsuyoshi raises an eyebrow of his own and he elaborates. "His Flames have been flaring and manipulating mine for the past week, culminating in a final flare when I sat down beside you."

"Then perhaps it's as well I'm going to be taking you to Namimori.”


	3. Chapter 3

"You haf kit'ns."

"Kyōya-tan -"

"My kit'ns! Gif'me!"

"He's right. Both of us are pregnant, Mei-Lin."

"Both of you?" The tiny Cloud determinedly climbs up onto his lap, and pokes at his belly; Hayato, the brat, kicks in response, and he sighs and numbs the patch as Kyōya keeps repeating the action and Hayato keeps kicking.

"Where kit'ns? Want my kit'ns!"

"Eiko was pregnant, not quite showing - we weren't going to tell anyone for another few weeks - and I wasn't quick enough to save her, but we were able to save Takeshi between us. Lavina - Shamal - has his own story to tell."

"Why no haf kit'ns‘et?"

"They still need time to grow before they're even born, Kyōya-tan. You're going to get to be their o-nii-san though, if Tsuyoshi and Lavina agree. Do you want to go with them back to Namimori for a few weeks and show them the compound?"

"Are you sure?"

"Kyōya-tan uses animals to describe things, and anything carnivorous is good. I doubt he'd forgive me if I took him away from his ‘kit'ns’, and a few weeks with a Flame-Active toddler should have you warmed up for the two you're carrying."

"I can go wi'h kit'ns?"

"As long as you promise no biting, and the foam stays _on_ your tonfa, Kyōya-tan."

"Kyōya-tan promifes."

"I'll get the town car to take you to Namimori; if you give me your keys, I'll have your lodgings cleared out. What name do you want your koseki made out under?"

"Yamamoto. I'd rather not make myself easy for Takeshi's obāsan or ojīsan to find; they'll want to take Takeshi to raise themselves, and I suspect that putting such a common name on the document will make it hard for Lavina's past to follow us, too."


	4. Chapter 4

"Is he your eldest?" The question comes from one of the only other members of their pre-natal group with a spark of Flame as well as a bump - it's fucking weird being around so many completely mundane people. Most of the Underworld has Flames, even if they can't access them, and there's a certain stigma to a Flameless child. 

"Gods, no. Our twins will be our first. Kyōya-tan is my husband's nephew; he's fascinated by the babies, and his mother thought we could do with the practise."

"You don't look big enough for twins, Lavina-chan."

"I should show you the sonogram; they're curled up together like kittens." She makes an eager sound, and he pulls the image that Mei-Lin had had crafted for them from his pocket and shows it off. "How far along are you, ...?"

"Sawada Nana. Four and a half months, but with my Iemitsu-koi having to go back to work, -" he twitches, and wishes he had some of his mosquitos available to him to set watch on Namimori; did Mei-Lin _know_ she'd had a cuckoo visiting her nest? Not that Iemitsu would recognise Lavina, but he might recognise Shamal, or try to steal the children - he wraps an arm around his belly and Hayato, the little brat, presses against it, reassuringly. "- and a family history of our little ones coming early, I thought I'd join the classes now."

"'ba-san, she haf one of my kit'ns."

"I don't have a kitten, Kyōya-tan."

"'ba-san haf - two of my kit'ns. You haf one." Kyōya-tan spins, pointing at the other two women with sparks in their bellies. "There four 'n' five. Still need one more." The correction from one to two is adorable; they'd explained the secret to Kyōya-tan, and he'd been gleeful about it, if a little militant about making both him and Tsuyoshi take naps and eat greens. (Using toddler logic: if naps and greens make him grow strong, then they'd help his kit'ns.) "No leafin' Namimori, tenjō-kā-san. Kyōya-tan hunt tenjō-kā-san if tenjō-kā-san leaf. Kyōya-tan keep Kyōya-tan's kit'ns safe!"

"Humans have babies, not kittens, Kyōya-tan. And what if I want to go see my koi-san in Italy, sweetheart?"

"Kyōya-tan know! But Tenjō-tan is kit'n, and kit'n stay wif me!"

"Okay, Kyō-tan." The words are clearly indulgent, without any real weight, but given Kyōya's expression, Nana was going to find herself held to that promise, or held hostage in the compound by a tiny and determined Cloud. "But you have to promise you'll look over our _shared_ kit'n."

"Kyōya-tan keep Tenjō-tan safe. And Taiyo-tan and Kiri-tan, too!"

"EXTWEME! Join my Big Brother Club -" 

"Kamikorosu!" he barely manages to catch Kyōya-tan before the little Cloud demon launches himself at the other toddler present, and Kyōya-tan wriggles grumpily in his grasp at being thwarted.

"You promised something, Kyōya-tan. Do you want to have to go back to your haha-ue in Tokyo?"

"Kyo-tan bite loud plant a little bit? Pwease?"

"Home for us, I think." He wraps them both up in the tiny bit of Mist Lavina has available to her - One of Mei-Lin's sisters had helped him tweak things so he could access the tiny scrap of Mist that wasn't being used to maintain everything so Hayato could come to term - before finishing his thought; civilian or near civilian women wouldn't be comfortable with the way he was going to placate Kyōya-tan. "If you want to bite someone, the training illusion in the dojo would be a much better bet, Kyōya-tan."

"But it doesn't tafte right -"

"Yes, but you can use the real tonfa on it, little menace."

"Not menathe, _Cloud_. Meant to bite enemies." 

"And just being loud doesn't make someone your enemy. I'll make hamburger-steak ..." the bribery pays off, Kyōya settling in his arms, and he makes his excuses, resolving to speak to the woman carrying Kyōya's Kiri-tan about her eldest's noisiness before the next class.


	5. Chapter 5

Kyōya-tan is almost as much of a manipulative menace as his little tempest, and very, very fixated on the babies he'd identified as his kit'ns (given the available evidence, the little demon was either the oldest or the second oldest member of a Sky set, of which Nana Sawada's child was the likely Sky). Fixated enough that it's a relief when Mei-Lin visits Namimori with an Arcobaleno who looks identical to the little Cloud in tow, and takes her son for training. 

It does leave him and Tsuyoshi at loose ends, though.

He hadn't realised how exhausting a Flame Active toddler could be; it made far more sense of why the gentle 'parenting' Seal was so common in the Underworld. Especially among those with differing Flame-types to their toddlers, or a lack of resources to hire trained nannies. 

"There's a tiny part of me that wishes Mei-Lin had allowed Eiko and I to have borrowed Kyōya-tan eighteen months ago. I'm sure he'd have been enough of a menace at five months to dissuade us from procreating -"

"- you're lying to yourself, Tsuyoshi. If you didn't want Takeshi, desperately, you wouldn't have been able to pull that trick." Tsuyoshi hmphs, and then he finds himself squeaking as he's dragged closer by the Rain. "And oi, I'm not your cuddly-toy."

"Maa, maa. Takeshi-kun wanted Hayato-chan closer." He grumbles at the transparent excuse, but settles himself into the Rain's side, and purrs as Tsuyoshi pours content, warm Rain Flames, through him until he's a melted mess. (A relieved, molten mess, grateful that the messy grief that had tangled the man's flames up when they'd first met had eased; not gone, just worn down into something manageable.) Long fingers with sword calluses - Tsuyoshi still practises every day, even though Takeshi is now doing horrible things to his balance - card through his hair gently, teasing the long silvery strands apart and working out the handful of knots he's developed overnight. "Can I talk you out of being the one that delivers Takeshi-kun, Shamal-chan?"

"Want you to survive. Don'trust anyone else. Still best Flame medic -"

"- mmm. Are you going to be up to surgery at nine and a bit months pregnant, koi-chan?"

"Not that sort of butcher. And Mei-Lin-san has promised me a set of hands to use. Just need to talk them through liftin' Takeshi-kun out. I haft to go to the hospital though so we've got lots of documentation for the 'kit'ns' just in case ... after all if doctors see me 'birth' Takeshi, then he can't be Eiko's." Gods, he's incredibly drunk on Tsuyoshi's Flames to be slurring. "Mei-Lin's 'hands' are going to accompany me as my midwife, and we're going to use a small illusion, and poor Takeshi gets born twice." He shifts, mumbling imprecations against Hayato for kicking his bladder, and then the 'koi-chan' registers. "You owe me a story, if you're calling me koi-chan."

"So I do."


	6. Chapter 6

“I stay wiv kit’ns!” The indignant wail precedes a grumpy Kyōya-tan with Fon - the Arcobaleno that looked _identical_ to the boy - trailing after him. “No go Tokyo. Tokyo bowwing. Hafta be a have and haha-ue insists on no flames.”

“Kyō-tan -“

“Stay here. Be wiv kit’ns. Be a have for ba-san and ji-san.”

“Then I will stay in Namimori and train you further, Kyo-tan.”

“Good. Hafta make sure tenjo-tan stay safe! Training impowtant for that.”

“Tenjo-tan? Where did you find a Sky, Kyō-tan? There are no Skies in Namimori -“

“There are two, actually, Fon-sama; Sawada Nana carries a Sky, child of Iemitsu of the CEDEF, and my Hayato-kun, my little tempest has a minor Sky Flame hiding under his Storm.” The Arcobaleno blinks in surprise. “We’re just missing a Lightning for a full set, though most of them are still to be born.”

“Found inazuma-tan, ba-san. Need t’kidnap inazuma-ka-san.”

“Kyo-tan, we’ve had conversations about kidnapping people -“

“- but inazuma-ka-san wants to leaf tewwitory, and take one of Kyo-tan kit’n wiv her.” 

Fon pinches his nose. “I suspect your haha-ue could help in getting your inazuma kit’n to stay in Namimori far more effectively than you trying to kidnap a full-grown adult, Kyō-tan.”

“But haha-ue wants me in Tokyo -“

“- I think I can talk her round if you’re guarding _your_ set, Kyo-tan. But are your ba-san and ji-san okay with you staying with them? You don’t like there just being me and your nurses -“

“As long as you’re here to take him off our hands occasionally, Fon-sama; he’s rather a handful, and both Tsuyoshi and I are getting rather exhausted thanks to our little ones.”

“I think I can manage that.” A smug Kyōya-tan scrambles up into his lap, and settles into croon and pet his belly and he sighs. “You can’t have long to go, looking at how big you are, Shamal.”

He twitches, and then pointedly relaxes again. Fon was willing to let him care for his nephew, and the likely Hibari heir and it wasn’t like the Falco could afford his rates. “Another month or so. Did Mei-Lin tell you who I was?”

“You were Reborn’s student for a while.”

“I don’t follow.”

“You move like Reborn’s female cover identity did pre-Fated Day, and from there it’s a process of elimination; you’re the only Mist he’s trained.”

“Fuck -“ a foam covered tonfa bops him on the nose, and Fon laughs.

“- no say bad words in front of kit’ns. Kyoya-tan’s job.”

“Not until they’re much, much older, Kyo-tan. Now, perhaps we should let your ba-san nap while we go talk to your haha-ue about staying in Namimori.”

“Hn.” He flops back onto the couch as Kyōya races back out of the rooms they’d been given in the compound. Tsuyoshi had been talking about opening a restaurant, but he’d put his foot down and said not until the boys were born, and they’d found at least a partial daycare solution that allowed him to be out of the house. (Mei-Lin had him taking examinations online to transfer his medical license to Japan, under both names; he wasn’t planning to set up a full practise, but perhaps he’d take up a post attached to the schools in a few years, to keep an eye on the kids.)


	7. Chapter 7

He wakes up warm, mumbles something incoherent, and then squeaks as he realises that the hand on his bump isn’t his. There’s just enough Cloud Flames in the room that he suspects he knows what’s happened - he and Tsuyoshi were sharing a room, but with separate futons - and he’s going to have to think of a punishment for Kyōya-tan, but for right now he’s just going to enjoy his position and the fact that Takeshi and Hayato were cooperating to allow it. Cooperating a little bit _too_ much; had Hayato dropped overnight? Fuck, he wasn’t ready for his brat to think escaping was a good idea - he had so much still to do to prepare and was Takeshi even ready yet? Though given that Tsuyoshi’s pelvis hadn’t shifted, it wasn’t as if Takeshi could drop properly and between the trauma of being transferred and the maladaption of a male body to pregnancy, he - Takeshi - had been ‘baking’ for far longer than a natural pregnancy. (He’d done all sorts of tests, several with the help of the Mist he was apparently now training in obstetrics to reassure himself that both Rains were healthy, and Takeshi wasn’t in distress.) 

“I can hear you overthinking this, koi-chan.” Rain Flames seep into his bones, and he goes limp, mind clearing at least a little bit. “Which rabbit hole did you dive down?”

“Hayato’s dropped. And my pelvis hurts, and I don’t think that we have more than a couple of days left -“

“- shh. If he’s ready to be born, he’s ready to be born, and there’s a nursery here, remember, with three nursemaids who’ve been able to wrangle Kyō-tan. And you said it yourself; Takeshi’s as ready as he can be.” He burrows his face in Tsuyoshi’s neck, and the Rain hums reassurance. “You are allowed to be scared. I get to take the easy way out, with the near instant recovery and I’m still a little scared -“

“You’ll be fine,” he facepalms as he realises how Tsuyoshi had twisted things round so that he was the one doing the reassuring, successfully distracting him.

“Mmm. I know. And we should keep cuddling until Kyō-tan escapes and pounces on us.” He snorts, but makes no effort to move; Tsuyoshi’s Rain soothed everything - mental anxiety and physical aches - beautifully. “Can we keep doing this after -?”

“Might have to take turns.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve got Mist Flames; they’re not strong, but there, and I bet I can teach you to create a version of yourself like Lavina. Turnabout is going to be fair play after all. Especially as I’m going to need to keep being Lavina most of the time, unless we can identify who CEDEF has watching Nana and Kyoya’s tenjo-tan.”

“I have no problems with you being yourself in private, koi-chan, -” he grunts in pain as his muscles spasm, and he has to breathe through the aftermath, “- you weren’t kidding about not have long. Are they the practise sort or -”

“Real, and goddamn it we need to get Ito-chan here and Takeshi out of you so I can have an epidural and Hayato can be born.”

“I could use my Rain Flames to numb things?”

“Too dangerous. Especially given the plan -“ Tsuyoshi rolls away from him and he makes a mewling sound, but stays where he is, counting the length of time between his first and second contractions as his husband - his lips quirk in amusement; Tsuyoshi really was the perfect cover for him - summons Ito-chan; the Mist is just arriving with the pre-prepared incubator for Takeshi when the second contraction tears through him, and he was going to specialise in fucking obstetrics after this, and find a way to stop it fucking hurting at least for his patients. “- fucking _ow_. Ready, Tsuyoshi?”

His husband nods, and then Ito-chan is plunging hands covered in Mist Flames into his belly; Tsuyoshi shudders, and he wishes those could have been his hands. (Given their Flames’ increasingly obvious compatibility - they’d like be able to bond to the same Sky, if they found one - it would feel a whole lot less strange for him to be lifting Takeshi out.) Takeshi wails when he hits cold air, and then quiets again as he’s tucked into the incubator - worked to be hidden to the doctors and midwives at the hospital - and it only takes a few moments for Ito-chan to fix Tsuyoshi up, with the residual Flames from Eiko helping significantly, though he can see that Tsuyoshi’s going to have to work hard to relearn his sense of balance now that his centre of gravity has shifted again.

“Ready for the show, sensei?”

“As I’ll ever be.”


	8. Chapter 8

"I here to see m'kit'ns!" 

"Go and rescue the nurses from Kyō-tan, Ito-chan. If they don't let him through, he'll just climb in through the window, and as we're on the fourth storey, -"

Ito-chan shivers. "Of course, Tsuyoshi-sama." He can't feel anything below his diaphragm, and it's _heavenly_. (But not quite as heavenly as the sight of Hayato and Takeshi curled into each other on his husband's chest, asleep, their tiny bellies full of his milk. He kind of understands why women do this more than once now, though he is going to figure out obstetrics if it kills him; what he'd taught Ito-chan to do to safely deliver Takeshi did not count; the tiny Rain had been mostly nestled in Tsuyoshi's Flames, and intent - and not being a threat, given they were both assassins - had been a big part of it.) It had taken fourteen hours from start to finish and he'd given birth twice and he was going to abuse that fact shamelessly. Tsuyoshi was going to be helping feed their boys one way or the other ...

"You've let Kyō-tan's kit'ns out. Kyō-tan keep kit'ns safe!"

"I'm sure you will, Kyō-tan, but right now they need to be here with us at least until they've got all of my colostrum. It helps their bodies fight off diseases -"

"Can still cuddle and guard the kit'ns, right?"

"Given they're going to spend at least sometime in your nursery, silly Cloudlet, of course you'll be able to cuddle them." Kyō-tan bounces on his toes. "I'm going to invite your kiri-ka-san, inazuma-ka-san, taiyo-ka-san and tenjo-ka-san to come out for coffee regularly, Kyō-tan, which should let you check on your kit'ns, but you are going to have to put up with the 'loud plant' -" the pout at that is adorable, but even if he isn't one of Kyōya's kit'ns, Ryōhei will need to learn to control his Flames, and he seems to have been designated responsible adult in that respect; Sasagawa-san wasn’t Flame Active.

"- Kyō-tan doesn't like loud plant. Too loud."

"But if we don't teach him now, he's just going to get louder and louder ..."

"Then I bite him to death."

"And if you do that, Kiri-tan will get mad at you."

"Point. Bite a little bit?"

"Just a little bit. He's a Sun."

"Hn." He takes the noise as one of acceptance, and shifts himself slightly, allowing the little Cloud to join him in watching the tiny babies - his babies, he gave birth to both of them - sleep on Tsuyoshi's chest. "'Ba-san get better soon? Kyō-tan want to see how 'ba-san fight."

"You won't see anything if I use my main weapons, little kit'n. But I think I can show off a little bit, if your haha-ue can find me certain things ..."


	9. Chapter 9

“You were so tiny to be carrying these two cutie-pies!” Nana’s still pregnant, her own bump petite, and he stretches his Flames out to check on the little Sky in her womb, and is rewarded with the bright sparkling glee of an infant Sky. The sparkling Flames are rewarded with flares from both Takeshi and Hayato-kun.

“’ba-san took kit’ns and left Kyō-tan -“ a tiny high speed missile slams into his side, and if he hadn’t deconstructed Lavina and then rebuilt her again as a slightly less complete illusion - repairing the obstetric damage, and giving himself almost complete access to his Flames - he’d have gone ass-over-tit.

“Kyō-tan, did you at least _tell_ your duty nursemaid you were going to chase me down?”

“Even haf the tracker, ‘ba-san”

“It’s good to see you again, Kyō-tan. Did you find the other kit’n you were looking for?”

“Hn. Found inazuma-kit’n. Is good, means tenjo-tan can come out to play now.” Nana smiles at Kyō-tan indulgently.

“Women in my family carry very, uh, discreetly, Nana-chan. How are you doing; is Iemitsu-san coming for the birth?”

“He has time off in early November when Tsu-tan is due, but I think Tsu-tan’ll be here before then -“

“Tenjo-tan ready now. Haf rest of kit’ns lined up for tenjo-tan -“

“That’s not how pregnancy works Kyō-tan.”

“But Takeshi-kun waited for Hayato-kun -“

“Ara?”

“Twins like Takeshi-kun and Hayato-kun can have different conception dates, Nana-chan. Hayato-kun is the oldest of the two birth order wise, but the younger by conception date. He was a little smaller at birth, but he’ll catch up.” Kyō-tan makes a face at him, but doesn’t argue; he suspects that he’s aware he should have been more discreet. Which was hard for the little Cloud, but Nana was painfully caught up in the Young Lion’s Flames and all too likely to tell the man about any pecularities; he was hoping that Tsu-tan’s birth would break that hold, especially if Iemitsu wasn’t there to re-assert his dominance in the immediate aftermath of the birth. (Perhaps he’d have to set one or two of his mosquitos loose with instructions to target anyone with CEDEF connections.)

“Ah. I guess that explains why they look a bit different to each other, too?”

“Yes, it does. Kyō-tan, would you like a snack before you’re tracked down? I have an errand to run, but I have your board on the back of the kit’ns stroller …”

“Hn. Tenjo-ka-san come too? Tenjo-tan be here soon.” He picks the little menace up, ostensibly for a hug that makes Kyō-tan wriggle, but really to hiss a ‘when’ in the boy’s ear. “Today! Hayato-kun and Takeshi-kun make tenjo-tan really happy, and he’s wiggly and ready.” He swears softly and unstraps the balance board, dropping Kyō-tan carefully into place on it. “Bad ba-san. No swear in front of kit’ns!”


	10. Chapter 10

Kyō-tan’s warning had barely given him enough time to get Nana to hospital, and he’s so fucking glad that Mei-Lin’s helped him get the paperwork together to be allowed to deal with patients at Namimori General, because tenjō-tan - Tsu-kun, according to Nana - is a Flame Active brat, intent on coming as soon as possible, and a damn Vongola by blood and even he can feel the steadily escalating flame output as the little Sky is squashed by the contractions. What the hell had Idiotsu been thinking, letting his wife have her kid in Japan, away from the Family midwives?!

The nursing staff had tried to take his babies out of the room, but before he could intervene, Kyō-tan had imitated Fon surprisingly well, requesting milk for the kit’ns, and the staff had complied, and he’d shaken his head and concentrated on Nana and the _very_ unhappy Sky in her belly. (He was surprised how well the little Cloud was coping with being crowded and looking after the kit’ns given he was only just three.)

“This may feel a bit odd, Nana-chan, but Tsu-kun’s a bit out of position -” he wasn’t, but it would excuse things if she felt anything from the Flames he was about to use, “- and I need to encourage him back into the right position to speed things up.” He pushes at her belly gently, manipulating Tsu-kun, and encourages her cervix to dilate and deadens a few nerves that would otherwise make her very uncomfortable. The Mist Flames help; Tsu-kun calms a little, and Kyō-tan, the little menace, amplifies the wispy traces of Rain and Storm Flames around his sleeping babies, which soothes the little Sky further. “There we go. Now are you okay with me checking to see how dilated you are, Nana? Would you prefer me to get one of the nurses, or your obstetrician?”

“You’re helping, and I don’t like my obstetrician -” he’d have to get Tsuyoshi to investigate Nana’s ‘official’ doctor later; he’d noticed how oblivious the woman could be, and if the doctor made her uneasy then there was something wrong.

“Promise you won’t blush at me later?” She nods, and he smiles at her. “I need to check whether you’ve dilated before I get you into a more comfortable position to push. The one you’re in will just drag things out.” He checks her cervix deftly and uses his Flames to encourage it to dilate even further; between that intervention and deadening the grumpiest of the nerves involved, she was going to have been in active labour for all of three hours or so by the time he’d coaxed Tsu-kun out. 

“Koi-chan?”

“Let me get the screen around Nana so you can come in and get the boys; I suspect they need their diapers changed, though they’re being _very_ patient.” Too patient; was it the fact they could feel their Sky? He hadn’t believed the old wives’ tale about some sets being born for each other, but Tsu-kun and their boys were beginning to change his mind. “There we go. You can come in and get the boys; don’t take them out of the hospital, please.”

“I’ve got the room next door, koi-chan, and lunch for Kyō-tan and I. We’ll be right here until you and Nana-chan are done.” It’s almost a relief to have them out of the room, because childbirth was messy, especially as he wasn’t Storm-natured; Hayato had definitely got that from the Falco, rather than from him. 

“How are you doing, Nana-chan?”

“I’m _giving birth_ -”

“Sorry. But you can sarcasm, so you’re doing okay.” She shakes a fist at him, and he laughs a little. “And you’re almost fully dilated, so when you’re ready you can start pushing.”

“Is this going to hurt?”

“Does it hurt right now?”

“Not helping!”

“Transition is going to hurt like a knife in the gut. Then it’s going to be quick and you’ll have Tsu-kun in your arms, and you’ll just be a bit uncomfortable.” He’d make sure of that, and let her think that it was just medication that was helping so much. 

“ _Fine._ ” He laughed, and shook his head; Nana-chan was showing signs of more and more personality, and he’d always wondered why more women didn’t go Active when giving birth; they did it with their Dying Will after all. “… Lavina-chan, you said that like you can make a direct comparison.”

“I can, and if you’re going to snark _that_ much, you’re going to breathe with me, and push when I tell you to, Nana-chan.” He slides his Mist Flames back under her skin again, taking control of her contractions and calming Tsu-kun; if the little Sky imprinted on him, rather than Idiotsu, it would happen, and would probably be far better off as a result. (He was going to insinuate a little of his Mist Flames into the little Sky’s system just in case; it was entirely possible that the Young Lion would try to place a partial or full Seal when he arrived in Japan to see his son; there had to be a reason he hadn’t brought Nana to Italy.) 

Nana takes a deep breath, and he talks her through pushing, and she curses him every name under the sun, and he raises a mental eyebrow at the range of swearwords; it was impressive even to him, and he more than met the Varia’s minimum standards. (Their heavy-handed recruitment efforts had been part of the reason that Lavina had seemed like a good idea; he’d wanted to be something other than an assassin for a while.) It goes as easily as he’d hoped; with the nursery maids there to help, he’d spent the last five weeks - when he wasn’t feeding or playing with his demon duo - reading everything he could get his hands on with respect to obstetrics including the two private journals of Mist-flamed midwives Mei-Lin had sourced for him from god knows where.

“Kyō-tan!”

“Tenjō-tan need other kit’ns!” He’s just finished cleaning Nana up when Kyoya pushes the stroller into the room, his husband behind the toddler with a rueful - though amused - expression on his face. “Kyō-tan want kit’ns to stay Actife, so need tenjō-tan to be Actife.” He snorts, and ‘spells’ the mess of birth off himself, and then picks up the little menace. 

“The only reason the little ones would stop being Active is if someone used a Seal on any of them. If that happens, then you need to get your Stormy ji-san here, so he can beat sense into whoever Sealed your kit’ns.”

“Kyō-tan can do.” The bratty little Cloud squirms out of his arms and drops to the floor, and bounces up onto the bed beside a fortunately well medicated Nana to inspect his new Sky. “Hi Tenjō-tan! Kyō-tan protec’ tenjō-tan -”

“Tsunayoshi-kun, Kyōya-kun. His name is Tsunayoshi; his father’s family name their boys after Tokugawa shoguns.”

“Not Ietsuna or Tsunahige, then?” He’s not quite sure why Tsuyoshi asks the question, and he’ll have to interrogate his husband later; the choice of name had obviously told him something, but he wasn’t sure _what_.

“Iemitsu-koi insisted on Tsunayoshi.”

“It’s a lovely name, Nana-chan, and hopefully an auspicious one.” He was definitely going to interrogate his husband later; there was something there to do with history and the damn naming tradition, and he’d be damned if he let his sons’ Sky succumb to fate and take them with him. “And now we’ve introduced our boys, I should get Lavina-chan home to bed; she’s still recovering from our twins, and I suspect she’s overdone things a little.” Tsuyoshi picks up Kyōya from the bed, and before the little menace could protest, knocks him out with subtly applied Rain Flames. “And we should get this one back to his caretakers, too. We’ll be back to check on you tomorrow, Nana-chan.”

Tsuyoshi doesn’t allow him to argue, dumping just enough Rain into _his_ system that he can’t keep hiding his exhaustion, and Nana cheerfully waves them off as Tsuyoshi steers them all out of the hospital.

“What’s the import of them choosing Tsunayoshi rather than Ietsuna?” Tsuyoshi hums as he transfers the three boys into their seats in the back of their car. “I’m guessing it’s historical?”

“There’s two parts. It’s entirely possible our little tenjō-tan isn’t his oldest son, and Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was trained as a scholar in order not to be a threat to the heir; choosing Tsunayoshi rather than Ietsuna may be a plea for the Ninth not to see Tsuna as a threat. Except, if it is the latter, Iemitsu has fucked up and should have chosen Tsunahige as our tenjō-tan’s name and we need to keep an eye on our tenjō-tan if the Vongola visit; Tokugawa Tsunayoshi inherited, and was far more competent than the original heir …”


	11. Chapter 11

It’s closer to Christmas than not when he notices the uptick in foreigners in Namimori, and he doubles down on ‘performing’ as Lavina, playing piano in Takesushi - newly opened with several Hibari cousins acting as staff, while Takeshi and Hayato terrorise Kyō-tan’s nursemaids - and using an enchantment to adjust Hayato and his own colouring slightly, to make the boys look like they were _theirs_ as opposed to being part of a blended family. The uptick in activity has its uses; he identifies at least half of the watchers - obviously, someone other than Iemitsu had taken responsibility for the safety of Nana and her son as there were actually watchers, even if only CEDEF retirees who had moved out to Namimori with their families - and reassures himself that they didn’t recognise him (at least as Lavina). Once he has, he makes sure to invite Nana to coffee, and lays the groundwork for taking little Tsunayoshi off her hands for her husband’s visit. (He has no intention of letting his boys, or Kyōya _anywhere_ near the head of the CEDEF. Ever. The organisation chewed up and spat out child Flame users at an alarming rate.)

Iemitsu lands in Namimori with a small entourage - including Lal Mirch, who he suspects is the one responsible for the watchers (including both Sasagawa-san and Irie-san’s husbands) - and he whisks Tsunayoshi away and into the Hibari compound, and leaves Nana to honeymoon with her husband. 

Fon brings his fellow Arcobaleno into the nursery a day into the visit, and he scowls at her from the rocking chair where he’s nursing Tsunayoshi - he’d pushed his milk supply into overdrive to keep the trio well fed - but she laughs. “She’s a good look on you, Trident Shamal.”

Tsuyoshi’s hand curls around the hilt of Shigure Kintoki but the failed Arcobaleno shakes her head. “You’ve obviously retired, and your twins have harmonised with the little one in your arms. You’re probably less of a threat to that little Sky than my idiot commander is.” She sits on the bed, legs crossed, and Kyōya scrambles up next to her, making it clear that she was also a ba-san. “He’d either have him Sealed so he could keep up his pretence of a civilian Family, or take him back to Italy to use as bait. We’re trying to flush out the Estraneo at the moment and a baby Sky would be too tempting for them. But with Tsunayoshi out of the house, the two of them are going at it like rabbits, and he’ll probably forget he even exists. But I can adjust Nana’s funds too, so I’ll make sure she’s getting enough to keep any more kids she has.”

“And Don Vongola?”

“Has four heirs and is a paranoid old Don; I see no reason to tell him that Idiotsu has a Sky heir.” He sighs in relief. “What’s his secondary Flame, if any? That way there’s something to distract baka-Timoteo with if he does remember about Tsunayoshi at some point.”

“Probably Mist.” She raises an eyebrow at him, and he shrugs his shoulders, careful not to dislodge Tsunayoshi from his feed. “He’s imprinted on me, and you know how mutable secondary types can be.”

“Meaning he’ll be a Misty Sky by the time he’s weaned if you have anything to do with it.” She hops off the bed and wanders over to investigate the crib with his sleeping twins. “Tsunayoshi’s Storm and Rain?”

“As much as they can be at this stage.” She hums, thoughtfully.

“I suspect, if you keep borrowing the little Sky to allow my idiot commander the illusion of a yearly honeymoon, they’ll harmonise fully by about seven or so, and then no one will get the stupid idea to Seal him. How much warning do you need to get him out of that house?” He tilts his head, wondering why here thoughts had jumped straight there. “Iemitsu wanted Xanxus Sealed, but the boy had already acquired a Guardian and the Seal collapsed as a result; if he’d suggest that for a bastard -”

Tsunayoshi makes a sleepy sound and releases his abused nipple, and he lifts the little one up to burp him, before carrying him over to the crib and tucking him between his sons. “And what do you want from me for hiding the existence of my son’s Sky from his father and his notional Don?”

“Kyō-tan’s Sky, too. He’s Fon’s heir; that’s enough. There’s a chance that they might be drawn into wearing these, but -” she touches the pacifier and he hisses, “- if they’re not known about in Italy, then they might be passed over; it’s the one point of commonality we all had. Even Fon and Skull were well known when we were chosen.”


	12. Chapter 12

He wasn't wrong when he told Lal Mirch that Tsunayoshi's secondary Flame was likely to be Mist; all of the boys' had at least a bit of Mist, including Kyōya (Hayato's, oddly, was the smallest scrap, but given that he had a clear Sky secondary, he wasn't going to discount his son). Irie-san was being a little too protective of her son for him to be sure about Shoichi's secondary, but he suspected that he had it, too. 

But he hadn't expected the little Sky to demonstrate that affinity quite so spectacularly quite so young. If he hadn't been a Mist himself, the third baby in the crib trying to blend in between Hayato and Takeshi would have almost had him thinking he'd had triplets. Almost. Instead, he picks up the phone and makes a phone call. 

"Nana, is Iemitsu there?

"Ara, he surprised me for White Day, Lavina-chan. Isn't he romantic? What did Tsuyoshi-san do for you?"

"I had a very nice breakfast this morning; but what's Iemtisu doing in Japan? I thought he was supposed to be at work."

"His Boss said he could take the week as he hadn't come home for Valentine's day."

"Anyway, I think Kyōya persuaded his nursemaid to help him hijack Tsu-tan; he's here with my boys."

"Ara! I knew Kyō-tan was here earlier, but I didn't realise he'd taken Tsu-tan home with him. Can you keep him overnight so I can appreciate Iemitsu-koi?"

"Absolutely, I have more than enough milk to feed him, and three are as easy as two, too. Shall I bring him back when Iemitsu's gone home?"

"If you don't mind -"

"Of course not."

He winces at his slip about Iemitsu going 'home' to Italy, but either Nana hadn't noticed or was too wrapped up in her husband's surprise visit for White Day to care about it. 

"What am I going to do with you, Tsu-tan? You're too little to be warping reality on your own, and I think Kyō-tan would bite me to death if I tried to stop you from being where he can keep an eye on you."

"Koi-chan? I heard you talking to Nana?"

"Idiotsu surprised her, and we have a little visitor; quite how he got here is up for debate, sweetheart."

"Mmm. Kyō-tan was very smug earlier, so he's probably to blame; he does like his kit'ns to be in one place where they're easier for him to guard." He picks the five-month-old baby Sky up, and there's an indignant little chirp from Tsunayoshi. "We're going to need to put some precautions in place though if they're starting to try out their Flames. Maybe a compulsion to bring them to one of us, Tsuyoshi if there's been an active use of Flames?"

"That could work. We probably should talk to Irie-san and Sasagawa-san, though, and see how much they've told their wives about Flames; neither of them have taken steps to Seal their children, but it could be that they haven't realised they're Active yet."

"If Sasagawa-san hasn't noticed that Ryōhei-kun is Active, then he's blind as a bat."

"True. Even Nana knows there's something a little off about the little Sun -"

"- she does?"

"She commented on his bounciness and general indestructibility last week. Was sure that it was a bit much even for a normal toddler, and Sasagawa-chan sighed, and said it ran on his father's side of the Family."

"Well, that answers the question about whether she's at least somewhat aware about Flames. We should still talk to Sasagawa-san first, though." Tsuyoshi's fingers curl, and Shigure Kintoki jumps to it, and he shakes his head. "He's one of Lal Mirch's recruits; she seems to be intent on keeping Tsunayoshi safe for Fon's sake, at least. I doubt he's going to be the sort of threat you need to use that blade on."

"Reflex. And you were the one who poured so many Flames into the workings that Eiko created for me last night -"

"- maa, maa. Come here and let me add another one if we're going to be caring for Tsunayoshi, too." His husband eyes him warily, and he grins and stalks towards the man. "You've got the vestigal equipment for this and it's easy enough to make it work properly ..."


	13. Chapter 13

“Ara, thank you, Lavina-chan. I feel really guilty about leaving Tsu-kun with you, but Iemitsu-koi kept me so distracted -” He can tell; the oppressive weight of Iemitsu’s Sky Flames had left Namimori hours ago, headed for Tokyo and the International Airport, and yet Nana was still walking funny, and a small, perverse part of his brain speculated on exactly why, but the majority of it was occupied with the baby Sky he was cradling. Tsuna didn’t particularly _want_ to let go of him, sleepy, undirected Flames clinging to his desperately.

“Don’t worry about it, Nana. He snuggled right in with Hayato and Takeshi, and it was like he’d always been there! And Kyō-tan was an angel watching over the three of them.” Nana reaches out, and he puts the little menace in her arms, earning them both an indignant wail at the loss of direct contact with his Mist Flames.

“Shh, sweetheart, it’s just Kaa-chan. Kaa-chan was busy, but she’s all Tsu-tan’s now.”

“I put a couple of bottles of milk in his diaper bag, Nana. I wasn’t sure you’d have any, given that no-one saw you at all while Iemitsu was here.” And he also knew that she’d stopped breastfeeding within a few days of Tsuna being born; he’d tried to help with her milk supply, but it just hadn’t come in properly. He was still breastfeeding exclusively though, and Tsuna was likely to pout when he had to return to formula. He hands her one of the bottles and Tsuna grabs for it, settling down the moment he’s got it in his mouth, and Nana laughs and takes the bag. “And really, he’s no bother. I’m already dealing with twins, and Tsuyoshi’s there to help.” Which, given Takeshi had his first tooth coming through, he’d taken thorough advantage of, letting the man feed his fractious son while he dealt with Hayato and Tsuna who were both far easier to feed.

“Maybe I could leave him with you some days? Tsuyoshi-san said I could do some hours at Takesushi, but there are no places at daycare -” he nods; one more in Kyōya’s nursery, especially when it was the Sky that kept the other three from getting too fractious wasn’t going to be a hardship, and the regular employment and exposure to people outside the house would help break Iemitsu’s hold on the woman. (Said hold would probably return when he did; he knew what love could do to a woman, but they could work on integrating her with the community when he was gone, rather than letting her be isolated the way had apparently been happening before Kyōya had pounced on her for Tsuna’s-sake.) “- thank you Lavina! I have no idea how you make the twins look so effortless, and the Hibari’s boy, too; what’s your secret?”

“I cheat, Nana -” Mei-Lin had raised an eyebrow when he tried to deny that he was one of them, and Tsuyoshi had kissed him in front of the matriarch, and he’d given in and accepted he was a Hibari now. “- Kyō-tan has nursemaids, and because he’s claimed his cousins as his kit’ns, Hibari-san has no problem with them sharing his nursery; he behaves better with them around. It means I get to sleep whilst someone watches over them; childcare is much easier when you’re well rested and someone else deals with the diapers.”

“Ara, that would make things easier, even if Tsu-tan is a very easy baby.” Nana giggles, a smile on her lips. "Maybe Iemitsu just gave Tsu-tan a sibling? After all I got Tsu-tan from Iemitsu’s last but one visit - did I tell you about how romantic my koi-san was …?


	14. Chapter 14

Organising the other four mothers of Kyōya’s kit’ns into sitting down for coffee with him in a still closed Takesushi had taken him months - he’d talked each into individual coffee and cooing dates, but juggling work, wary shyness - Irie-chan - and someone to watch Ryohei so Kyōya didn’t try and bite him for being ‘a loud plant’ had taken longer than he’d wanted it to. The six babies were asleep in a pen, with Kyōya perched on a stool having read a book to them, and if anyone had told him three years ago that he’d be in this situation and _happy_ , he’d have given them syphilis.

“So what happened to ‘I’d like to spend some time helping Tsuyoshi get Takesushi off the ground before we have another one’ Lavina-chan?”

“You have _seen_ my husband and his sword, haven’t you, Akari?” Kyoko’s mother throws her head back and laughs. “I climbed him like a tree for White Day and got a bit carried away.” Tomoko blushes furiously, and buries her head in her hands, and had she not realised it was a genuine marriage? She was the only one there who knew he was Shamal, and something of his old reputation -

“Too much information -”

“Did Masatsugu not make it home for White Day, Tomoko-chan?” The slim redhead didn’t raise her head, but something from the direction of the babies’ pen drew people’s attention before the former assassin could figure out how to answer Nana, and there were coos of delight from everyone at the sight before them. Hayato-kun, his adorable, mischevious tempest, had pulled himself up on the bars of the baby pen, and Kyō-tan was in the process of climbing down from his stool. Ignoring the adults, the little Cloud held out a hand to his precious Stormling, and Hayato-kun was walking, and he wasn’t ready to see his little Flame toddling with only the older boy’s hand to help him!

“Oh, you are so doomed, Lavina. I remember when my little Ryohei started walking. He got EXTREMELY into _everything_.” Akari laughed. “You’re going to need to watch out for him climbing, though I suspect having Kyō-tan invade so often means you’ve already toddler-proofed for him?” He’d cheated; there was a Mist working on their private quarters, though he’d need to expand and reinforce it and make sure it covered Shigure Kintoki, too, especially since the sword rattled when Takeshi crawled over to look at it. He was just considering how to do it when there was a squeak from Tomoko, and his eyes flicked back to where the slightly younger Shoichi - a full three months younger than Hayato - was trying to pull himself up and failing, and his Hayato-kun sat down with a thump next to Tsu-tan.

Kyōya lifted the redhead up onto his feet, and Sho-chan made a meep noise even as Tomoko buried her head in her hands again and mumbled something along the lines of ‘I can’t watch. He’s _six_ months old!’

“Don’t worry, Tomoko-chan; I doubt he’ll be able to do it without Kyō-tan - at least for a few weeks.”

“You’re not helping. How often have you found Kyō-tan perched on the edge of Kyoko’s crib?”

“Well, he is a Cloud. He’s fairly sociable for one according to shuijin.”

“A Cloud?”

“Oops. I thought - Lavina, help?”

“Maa, maa. It’s just a nickname for someone with Kyō-tan’s personality type, Yui.”

“Given that his mother talked my otto into us staying in Namimori, and it has you resigned to a toddler invading your house at three am, then there’s something more to it than just a _personality_ type!”

“Ara. That’s just Kyō-tan being Kyō-tan. And he’s helpful with my Tsu-tan. I find him giving Tsu-tan a bottle sometimes, and it makes Tsu-tan so calm!” Yui gives Nana a disbelieving look, and then shakes her head when she realises that the woman is serious and the other women around the table are nodding as if it’s entirely normal to find an almost four-year-old in an upstairs nursery feeding their baby. “And he took Tsu-tan to Lavina-chan when Iemitsu-koi came home -”

“About that, Nana-chan; does Iemitsu even realise you’ve had Tsuna? He’s been with me both times he’s visited -”

“Ara. We didn’t talk much! At least not out loud. We did lots of talking in other ways -” Nana giggled and squirmed. “- it’s like he’d been saving it all up. So romantic.”

“Does he come home often, Nana?” The question comes from Akari, and he eyes her, trying to decide why she’s asking.

“Twice this year, Akari-chan. He’s working in the oil-industry -” Tomoko at least makes her face-palm look like it’s because of Shoichi trying to toddle by himself, rather than the barely believable lie.

“Matasuga-san used to work in the, um, oil-industry, Nana-chan, and I saw him every month, and he phoned every day.”

“Ara, Iemitsu-koi’s very busy!” He, Tomoko and Akari exchange resigned looks, and Yui shakes her head, still trying to figure something out.

“But then why don’t you join him in Italy, Nana-chan? His Boss is very keen on Family, and would adore Tsunayoshi-kun; he has four boys and he’d be spoiled rotten.”

“Ara, Iemitsu-koi isn’t in Italy! He works in the Antarctic -” he hides a smile as Akari and Tomoko work on picking apart Nana’s delusion gently, and turns to Yui, coaxing her into discussing Kyōya’s inazuma kit’n with him.


	15. Chapter 15

“Next time we wait for _July_ before you get me pregnant.”

“You mean I get to do it again, koi-chan?” Tsuyoshi’s big hands splay across his belly, Rain Flames soothing the two active babies in his womb. “There was me thinking you’d say no more after these two.” He leans back into his husband, enjoying the cooling effect of the Flames. “But if you’re happy to have more, then I’m happy to give you as many as you want; you’re very very attractive like this, and our babies are adorable.”

“… I’m too tired to do anything about what’s poking me in the back unless you do something about getting us air conditioning.”

“If you’re going to threaten to cut me off, then I suppose I can do something about the temperature. Would Rain Flames and ice be an acceptable substitute?”

“As long as I stop feeling like I’m an overheating beached whale I don’t care what you do!”

“Don’t tempt me, koi-chan. I can think of ways to get creative with ice.”

“I’m sure you can, but I can feel a stampede toddling in our direction, so it’ll have to wait for later.”

“You _could_ divert them.”

“I could, but I don’t want to teach Tsunayoshi that trick yet.”

“He’s not ever a year old yet, koi-chan.”

“And Hayato started walking precociously, and Takeshi keeps trying to teeth on your five-hundred-year-old blade. No matter _how_ I lock it up.”

“Him.” Tsuyoshi’s voice sounds actually pained. “I should introduce you two properly, and see if that helps; I knew there was something I’d forgotten to do.”

“It’s _sentient_?!”

“You’re a Mist from Italy and you’re trying to tell me you haven’t run into non-human sentiences?”

“Not a sentient Sword. And normally the damn things are in Sky-hands.”

“Ah. He’s been wandering around within our clan for ninety-nine per cent of his existence; I’d have been more confused if Takeshi wasn’t trying to teeth on him. Didn’t you see the tooth marks on his saya?” He turns in Tsuyoshi’s arms and buries his head in his husband’s chest. “As soon as we’ve introduced the two of you, you’ll see exactly where I got some of my mannerisms from -” there’s a soft kiss to his forehead. “- and you’re helping rebuild the clan, so of course he’s going to love you.”

“Is he the one that taught you to be an unrepentant menace?”

“Oh, that’s all me, koi-chan. He had nothing to do with that.” He squeaks as Tsuyoshi lifts him for a kiss, and the door opens.

“Hn. Ji-san and ba-san are being herbivorous. Ice cream?” The stampede toddles away again and he sighs in relief as Tsuyoshi’s hands slip a little lower.

“We should probably give Kyō-tan a treat later, for that.”

“While you’re making nice with Shigure Kintoki, I’ll see whether he wants to spar with me using a shinai, koi-chan. I’m sure the little ones will want to watch, too.”

“For him or for you?” Tsuyoshi makes a curious sound. “The shinai I mean.”

“Oh for me. He’ll just take the foam off his tonfa; he’s obsessed with them, and even Fon can’t persuade him to try something else.”

“As long as he puts the foam back on again afterwards; he gives me bad enough bruises with it on. I don’t want to know what they’ll be like without it.” 

“He probably won’t break more than two or three bones before he figures out his own strength and that people will play with him more if he only leaves bruises.”

“… if he hospitalises you, it’s your own fault.”

“And there was I thinking you were a doctor.”

“A virologist, and apparently, now an obstetrician and paediatrician. Nowhere on that list is ‘emergency medicine practitioner’ -”

“- not even for me?” Tsuyoshi actually tries to flutter his eyelashes at him, and he swats his husband.

“Introduce me to your damn sword, husband.”

“Oh, I’ve done that. _Many_ times.”

“You’re awful, and you know what I meant -”


	16. Chapter 16

“Yui-chan? I hadn’t realised you had an appointment today.” It certainly hadn’t been Miura Yui on the schedule, but he can roll with this, especially since the moment he extends his senses he can tell that she’s pregnant, though the implantation is days old, if that.

“Neither did I, but the terror you call a nephew herded me in here and said his kaa-san and ba-san would both be pleased. I think I’m owed that explanation you evaded in May, now, Lavina.” 

“Mmm. Have you noticed anything strange about Haru, other than her being a lot calmer around Tsu-kun? And Kyō-tan randomly invading her nursery.”

“Other than the fact that no one would rent to us in Kyoto, and my husband got a free annual shinkansen pass and a pay rise when we gave up trying to move closer to his new job? Only that she’s even hardier than I’d been led to believe babies would be.”

“Oh?”

“She bounces. Off things, and things bounce off her, and her eyes have gone green sometimes.” He summons a little bit of Mist Flames, a small ball of purple flame that hangs over his hand, and leaves it there. Yui _stares_ at it, shaking her head. “What the hell have I gotten myself into?”

“You’ve joined the Ukiyo, Yui. Or rather your daughter has for you.”

“ _The Floating World_? I thought that was historical, a fictional construct. And how the hell has my daughter joined it as a _baby_?”

He extinguishes the Flames hovering over his hand. “She has Lightning Flames; it wouldn’t have necessarily pulled her into the Ukiyo, but Kyō-tan claimed her for Tsu-kun, and he’s from one of the senior bloodlines that rule over the Ukiyo. And no, before you ask, we can’t untangle her from his set.” At least not without traumatising both children in a way that they wouldn’t understand and he wasn’t willing to do that to them. “But it does have its benefits; the way that Mei-Lin-san has had your rent reduced and supplied your husband with a Shinkansen pass is only the beginning: and before you raise concerns about whether they could get you into trouble, they’re from entirely legal sources.”

“That’s not comforting. What are Flames, and why does Kyō-tan - a four year old - get to pick my child for the Ukiyo?!”

“Kyō-tan’s Tsu-kun’s Cloud.”

“You used Cloud before, back in May when we were having the coffee and cakes at Takesushi and your Hayato-kun decided to walk. But then just excused it as a personality type, so is it a personality type, or is it something else? And why is Tsu-kun so important? Does Nana even realise he’s as important as you’re implying?”

“Nana is, um, the nearest comparison would be drugged. We’ve been working on weaning her off what has her intoxicated, but we can’t completely block her access to the intoxicant because her husband is the problem. It’s why she’s so much better in November than April.”

“Ah. Is this why you took Tsu-kun for the New Year and for White Day? I had wondered. Has he got his parents’ problems? Do I need to worry about Haru getting like Nana-chan?”

“If he ends up like Iemitsu, then I’ve really fucked up, Yui. He’s the same thing to both of my boys as he is to your Haru, and it’s entirely possible one of his younger siblings will be Sky to my new twins, too; I’m intensely motivated to keep him from following his sperm donor’s path.”

“Sky? Cloud? Lightning?”

“There are seven Flames, named for aspects of the weather; Sky Flames are rare and help stabilise the other six. In return they protect the Sky and keep them insulated from people; Skies can be deeply empathic, and without their insulation and protection they can get very ragged and righteous, and given how they can carry people with them - it’s complex. But Haru will get as much from being Tsuna’s as he gets from having her. More, probably, given which bloodline he’s part of.”

“Seven Flames?”

“Sky, Cloud, Lightning, Storm, Rain, Mist and Sun. Kyō-tan’s found Tsuna a full set, which should help them all in the long run.” 

Yui throws up her hands. “Okay, okay, I’m getting confused. What do I need to know right now?”

“Haru’s going to be hardy, and a bit obsessive, and she may destroy electronics if they’re not hardened. Kyō-tan’s likely to keep turning up in her nursery to check on her, and if anything strange happens either with Haru, or something criminal phone us, then the police, and we’ll do our best to help.”

“And the rest?”

“We can work on it piece by piece.”

“And nothing illegal’s happening?”

“At least not here in Namimori, and any money that comes here is cleaner than that of most big corporations; the senior bloodlines have rules about how money can be made in the Ukiyo.” His lips twitch into a smile. “Now. You did realise that you needed to come and talk to me anyway unless you wanted to go back to Dr Sato for this pregnancy?”

“I’m _pregnant_?!”

“A few days, at most. But they’ve sparked, so you’ve got a ninety-five per cent they’ll go to term. It’s a lot easier to tell with the Flame-born than it is mundane-born; I can’t tell until almost six weeks as to whether a mundane foetus will survive with any degree of certainty. And that makes four of the six of us pregnant again, and leaves me contemplating a research paper on the effects of a Cloud wanting more kit’ns to spoil because Kyōya is a grade A menace.”

“Why would Kyōya wanting kit’ns mean we get pregnant?”

“Each of the Flames has a different property, effects that they lend themselves to more easily - though a sufficiently creative user can work a long way outside of their notional speciality - and his type, for all they’re normally _very_ asocial, find it easiest to multiply and propagate. I’m mostly curious as to whether he’s doing it accidentally or deliberately, and what intersection if any there is with Sawada-san trying to sire an heir on Nana-chan.”

Yui shuts her eyes and sighs. “We can afford one more thanks to the rent reduction, but how do I stop one more becoming three or four more?”

“Be rigorous about using condoms, and skip the couple of nights around your ovulation anyway, just in case. Fortunately, I should be able to map your cycles fairly easily once you’ve had this one. Anything other than a barrier method is prone to failure with exposure to Sun or Cloud or even Sky Flames. If you slip, I can prevent implantation, but you’ll need to see me within a day or so, or given your predisposition to Lightning Flames, the pregnancy will be ‘Hard’ to prevent.”

“…?”

“Lightning Flames harden; ultimately even a spark of that type will preserve itself to the best of its abilities. European born Lightnings often get conditioned into bodyguards, but here in Japan they tend to be valued for their tenacity; if you encourage Haru, it’ll be hard for her to fail at _anything_ she sets her mind to.” Yui perks up slightly, and he mentally wishes her luck; everything he’d said was true, but the part he’d omitted was that Lightnings were hard to steer unless one wanted to brainwash them. It would only depress Yui. “If you need a break from Haru before the new little one arrives, she can camp out with us for a day or two; I’m sure the boys will cuddle her to death.”

“Let me think about taking you up on that …”


	17. Chapter 17

“Kyō-tan, you’re a menace.”

“Told ba-san. Not menathe, _Cloud_.”

“Uh-huh.” He picks Kyōya up, settling him on his hip, boosting Lavina’s strength to make it more achievable, and the little menace snuggles in affectionately. “And have you been using those pretty Flames of yours, Kyō-tan? Or wishing for something with your Dying Will?”

“Maybe? Kyō-tan in twouble?” He sighs internally at the deliberate attempt to be cute.

“Kyō-tan -”

“Kyō-tan wants more kit’ns. Kyō-tan haf to give kit’ns back now, but if more kit’ns, Kyō-tan keep some and no one minds.” He pinches the bridge of his nose with his free hand. 

“Kyō-tan, how would you take care of the kit’ns? You still need the compound staff and Tsuyoshi and I to make sure you stay fed and healthy.”

“Kyō-tan manage. Kyō-tan would find minions if Kyō-tan haf to.”

“… little menace, carrying your kit’ns is hard work, and while Nana-chan and I have the resources to look after lots of kit’ns, Miura-chan doesn’t. And I’m not sure whether Irie-chan or Sasagawa-san can without going back to assassinations.”

“Kaa-chan help. And Tsu-tan’s obun should help, wight? Tsu-tan tenjō-tan. Tenjō-tans are looked after -”

“… obun?”

“In charge of tenjō-tan’s clan?” Kyō-tan sounds annoyed he needed clarification.

“The Sky in charge of Tsuna’s clan in Italy is a suspicious and jealous old fool, Kyō-tan. He would think Tsu-tan is a threat, menace. While Nana-chan is receiving funds for Tsu-tan, that money comes with danger and strings if it’s audited, Kyō-tan. If we ask for too much more, it might bring assassins to Namimori.”

Kyōya stares at him and then reaches for the necklace Lavina wears, and he doesn’t quite realise what his little menace is planning until there are Cloud Flames and a smirk from the child on his hip. “Kyō-tan help then. And Ba-san should go hunt herbivores. Ba-san twitchy. Kaa-chan goes out hunting when kaa-chan twitchy.” Kyōya releases his necklace and he feels the increase in weight.

“When did you learn to do _that_ Kyō-tan?”

“When Kaa-chan wouldn’t share tonfa with Kyō-tan.” Kyōya squirms in his arms, and he puts the little menace down again. “’tings like that easy. Only haf to copy one thing at once.” He sighs and shakes his head, resigning himself to testing the limits of Kyō-tan’s Flames.

“No more wishing for kit’ns, Kyō-tan, or I’ll have to do something Misty that’ll act as a warning for everyone.”

“Kyō-tan _dare_ ba-san. Kyō-tan keep wishing for kit’ns till Kyō-tan have enough kit’ns.” The little menace giggles, and scampers away and he chases after him, contemplating how best to warn everyone that they needed to take precautions around him. “And ba-san? Kyō-tan never haf enough kit’ns!” He chases the little menace halfway across the compound and then gives up when the twins in his belly start to kick and squirm at being bounced, and turns for the passage to Takesushi to complain to Tsuyoshi about Kyō-tan, and then perhaps, make a call to Mei-Lin about him and tell her _exactly_ what her son had decided was his territory. Because that would explain his fixation and the world was _doomed_.


	18. Chapter 18

“… well, that would explain the recent fertility in the ninkyō dantai, Lavina-chan. Perhaps Kyōya visiting Tokyo is a bad idea for now. Some of the women are happier about this than others; the happiest, I’ll transfer to Namimori, and the others, well, perhaps I’ll find the kit’ns in question better homes.”

“And the issue of the Miura’s finances? I don’t think Yui is genuinely opposed to having more children, but is concerned about her ability to maintain their standard of living, and being culturally normal -”

“Moving the new families into Namamori from the ninkyō dantai should help with her desire to be normal; there are several larger families with very successful parents - visibly and legally successful parents. The standard of living is a little trickier; normally the Sky’s Family pays a stipend for a child Guardian, but Haru is both too young for most to consider fully bonded, and Fon-san explained why asking Timoteo di Vongola for a Sky’s portion would be a bad idea. I should be able to nudge a fellowship or two Miura-san’s way, and that will help offset the issue while I make the case to the others as to why we should help subsidise the families Kyō-tan is … inducing.”

“That’s a polite way of putting it, Mei-Lin.”

“Well, most of the others are spoiled older men, and while I can tie any three of them in knots without breaking their spines, the wider organisation behaves far better when I don’t. And given they are, mostly, obeying my rules I shouldn’t kill _too_ many of them. And they respond better when I'm polite.”

He leaves the ‘too many’; his brief introduction to Mei-Lin when he and Tsuyoshi had first joined forces had told him that the woman was a very Cloudy Cloud; Cloudy enough he’d been curious how she’d survived to adulthood in Japan, but obviously given her success with Kyōya the Namimori compound was part of the secret. No one native to Namimori was ever particularly surprised by the little menace’s antics, after all. (Yui, was no more native than Tomoko or Akari, and even she was learning to ignore Kyōya sneaking into Haru’s nursery to feed and coo at her.)

“Akari at least seems to be pleased to be having a third child; I assume given that her husband is still on the CEDEF’s payroll that she and Tomoko are still getting the typical bonuses provided to cover the expenses of having a Flame Active child -” He’d actually gotten round to asking Sasagawa-san how much Akari knew about Flames and urging him to come clean, and had finally identified who Tomoko reminded him of; terrifyingly he and Tsuyoshi weren’t the only assassins laying low in Namimori, and her husband had taken the post so she wouldn’t have to maintain her guard around his colleagues anymore. “- or Tomoko’s gotten bored and been taking hits. Speaking of which Kyō-tan tried to encourage me to take hits. Or rather told me I was getting twitchy and should go hunting like his kaa-chan …?” he trails off, letting the implication speak for themselves.

“I’m sure I could find you a hit worthy of your skills if you really wanted one, Lavina-chan, though perhaps poison, or the knife rather than a more signature method, ne?” 

“Mmmm. Even my explosives would probably give me away.”

“Kyō-tan told me all about that little show; there is a little something you could do for the clan once you’ve recovered, though, that would let you play with them …” He makes an interested sound and she laughs. “… I’m not telling you till after the twins are born; my cousin would try to decapitate me if I encouraged you to risk either you or them. Consider it motivation to resist Kyō-tan’s attempts to get you to fall pregnant again, at least for a couple of weeks.”

“And how is your new Cloudlet doing?”

“Not a Cloud; she appears to be taking after my brother. And using my bladder as a football.”

“Mmm. If you make a visit to Namimori, I can probably help with the football issue; some of the notes in the journals you found me helped me figure out ‘internal padding’ for want of a better description. It’s saving my sanity with the twins, and has made Tomoko far less homicidal.” Mei-Lin makes her own interested sound, and he grins. “Or if you bring her father, I could arrange for him to share the load -”

“- I should have thought of that use for him, but he’s already dead. He made _assumptions_ about what her conception meant, rather than realising he’d been a source of stress relief rather than the new ‘love of my life’; Fon was pleased to dispose of him for me.” At least he hadn’t put his foot in it too badly by the sound of Mei-Lin’s amusement. “If Kyō-tan succeeds in demanding another kit’n from me after this, I’ll remember the offer; the clan’s response could be hysterical.”

“I’m sure he’ll try to get you to have more kit’ns. I did tell you about his declaration that ‘Kyō-tan never haf enough kit’ns’, right?” 

“Oh that’s priceless. And you’re right, they’re obviously his territory. I remember making a similar declaration about the ninkyō dantai and haha-ue’s facepalm.”


	19. Chapter 19

"Kyō-tan, _how_ are you carrying Tsu-tan? Isn't that uncomfortable for both of you?"

"Tsu-tan is tenjō-tan. Kumo-tans haf to be able to carry tenjō-tans to get tenjō-tans out of trouble. Kyō-tan use Cloud Flames." He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Hummingbird-chan is very distracted, ba-san, and forgot to feed Tsu-tan. Kyō-tan keep kit'ns safe. Kyō-tan knows if Kyō-tan wants bigger tewwitowy, Kyō-tan keep current tewwitowy safe."

"Humingbird-chan - Nana?" Kyō-tan nods, and puts Tsuna down, letting him pick up the little Sky, and though Tsuna's mostly on solids, he shifts clothes to allow him to comfort nurse, and Tsu-tan latches hungrily. "How long had he been unfed?" The little Cloud looks thoughtful, counting on his fingers.

"Just one meal, ba-san. Baka-sora called, and hummingbird-chan got distracted from making breakfast. Kyō-tan felt Tsu-tan unhappy, so Kyō-tan stole Tsu-tan and hummingbird-chan no noticed." Tsu-tan's frantic suction eases, and he ruffles the toddler's fluffy hair soothingly, and checks his diaper; finding it messy, he carries the little Sky into the nursery and changes it once Tsu-tan's done feeding, humming soothingly the whole time.

"Did you hear much of the conversation, Kyō-tan? How was Nana behaving?"

"Could feel baka-sora fire. Felt -" Kyōya shivers "- nasty. Like he left it behind to make hummingbird-chan be silly like she is when he here."

"Ah." He picks Tsuna up and cuddles the sleepy Sky for a moment before putting him into the crib with Takeshi and Hayato, and then he offers to pick up Kyōya who takes the offer, and he blinks as he realises that the little Cloud has figured a new trick out. He should probably ask, but given it was making carrying him easier, he'd leave that question for later. "Let's go find Tsuyoshi, and we'll see if we can figure out something to do about that fire, Kyō-tan. If he's leaving his fire here, I want it gone. For everyone's sake."

"Maybe ji-san? He could burn it away." Kyo-tan offers, and it would be an effective but unsubtle method, one to use if others failed; better would be some way to neutralise it when Iemitsu was absent so that he didn't suspect anyone was interfering with his desire to have a pretty Yamato Nadeshiko waiting for him in Japan. "Might haf to keep tenjō-tan for month, though. Ji-san shouting at his baka-sora for secrets."

"Fon has a Sky?" Kyōya screws up his face, and then buries it in his shoulder.

"Has obwigation baka-sora. Ji-san carnivore. Why ji-san bend to sora, ba-san?"

"Why do carnivores normally yield, little menace?" He carries Kyōya through into Takesushi and takes him straight up to the counter, attracting his husband's curious attention.

"Don't 'ield."

"Mmm. We do, sometimes. If it's the best way to keep kit'ns safe." He grins. "Or sometimes to make sure we can rip the belly of a herbivore open for a feast." Kyōya giggles, and he puts him on one of the stools. "Husband, can we have a snack and a conversation? Our little menace bought us a very hungry guest and some bad news ..."


	20. Chapter 20

“Husband, I’m going to kill you _slowly_. I even have several mosquitos where you’d spend your entire demise painfully erect.”

“Koi-chan, you’d regret my demise.” He narrows his eyes at his husband.

“One of them would bring you back as a zombie. Who would obey my _every_ instruction. Don’t tempt me.” Rain Flames curl through his system, soothing the fire that has him snapping at his husband, and then there’s Takeshi, his lazy little Rain crawling through the door and climbing up into his lap, baby Flames lapping at his Will to be annoyed with their sire, and he sighs. “Kyōya isn’t the only menace in this family.”

“Shall I ring Ito-chan, koi-chan?” Another contraction ripples through his body, but Tsuyoshi’s Flames buffer him against the pain.

“That would be an excellent idea, husband, unless you want to deliver them yourself?” Tsuyoshi snorts, and sends a text message to his nurse and keeps him well soaked in Rain Flames while they wait for Ito-chan. The Sunny Mist takes all of half an hour to arrive, and he’s calmed down a little with his husband’s intervention. 

(Ito-chan panics briefly when she arrives; while he’s been training her ruthlessly, this is her first solo home birth for one of the Flame Active ‘women’ in Namimori. She’s done mundane hospital births, but Flames make things both more and less complicated. More complicated because Flame users lash out when in pain, and less complicated because there’s so many ways for a competent midwife who _also_ has Flames to cheat the process.)

The nice thing about a home birth with a competent Sunny-Mist midwife is that he can have his babies piled around him and not worry about them seeing something he can’t deal with them seeing, and without needing as many drugs as he’d need for Takeshi and Hayato. (Of course, he didn’t need to worry about hiding Takeshi’s maternity and Hayato’s paternity this time round; both of the twins he’s giving birth to are his and Tsuyoshi’s.) The twins take him about four hours to birth from Ito’s arrival and Kyōya barrels in half way through to bounce on the bed, over eager and ready for another round of kit’ns to spoil.

He at least has no surprises in the numbers or the nature of his new babies; he’d half expected to find that he had a little Mist hiding between the two tempestuous Rains in his womb, given how enthusiastic his husband had been about getting him pregnant in the first place. Tsuyoshi, blessed man, actually Activates the lactation working he’d implanted months ago - which was a prime example of achieving effects despite not having a specific Flame-type - and he’s sort of relieved not to be the one dealing with trying to encourage them to latch. However, not worrying about their ability to latch gives him time to consider the fact that maybe, just maybe his little Storms were getting their nature from _him_. He wasn’t sure he liked the idea. Had he been lying to himself?

“Kyō-tan can’t decide if they can share a tenjō-tan or need one each. Hummingbird-chan haf one tenjō-tan, Kyō-tan thinks. Where Kyō-tan find extra tenjō-tan -” He snorts at the little menace and winces as his muscles protest now that Ito-chan isn’t actively interfering with the nerves involved.

“Give them a little while to figure that out, Kyō-tan. Let’s see if they’re as cuddly as Hayato and Takeshi are with Tsuna, or if they want their own space.” The hairs on the back of his neck prickle, and he shakes his head; there was no reason to believe anything strange was going to happen. Was there?


	21. Chapter 21

Three babies in Takeshi and Hayato’s crib isn’t _that_ unusual, especially given Kyoya’s frequent kidnappings of Tsuna from a distracted Nana. (Iemitsu had sprayed his Flames all over the woman’s house like a cat marking territory, and the damn residue tended to resonate whenever he phoned her.) Thinking that he has triplets: also not so uncommon, especially if Tsuna’s feeling vulnerable due to missing a meal. Not being able to _shake_ the feeling he has triplets, and the third baby being that much smaller than Takeshi and Hayato? That was more worrying. He backs out of the nursery, and taps a message to Tsuyoshi on his cellphone.

«Husband, how many children do we have?»

«Six. Hayato, Takeshi and Byakuran; Tsunayoshi; Haruki and Kousuke»

«Byakuran, husband? And you counted Tsuna; for all we’re frequently tempted to keep him, he isn’t ours.»

«… this is like what happened with Tsuna back in March, isn’t it?»

«Yes. But there’s an adult Mist involved, too. One stronger than I am, I think. I keep forgetting that Byakuran isn’t mine. And thank you, but I only gave birth twice the first time, and Byakuran’s too small to be a year and a bit old unless he’s failing to thrive. And given I’ve taken up paediatrics I’d have been aggressive about fixing that.» 

«Mmmm. Go with it for now; I’ll contact Mei-Lin and got Fon here. Why don’t you go offer the little Sky some comfort? There’s obviously a reason why he’s been left here, and that way you can separate him from our boys while we figure it out.» He makes a small grumbling sound and puts his phone away, turning back to the nursery, and shoves his apprehensions into a small box in favour of scooping the little Sky out of his eldest’s Crib, and carrying him out of the room to find a sunny spot where he can nurse him and see if he can recognise the Flame signature of the Mist that’s trying to trick him into thinking Byakuran is his own.

“So, who brought you here, little Sky? If it had been our little menace, he’d have been crowing about finding an extra tenjō-tan for his kit’n army.”

“My apologies kiri-sama. I was directed to bring the little Sky here for his safety.” The Mist in front of him is little more than an animated mask, a Will so strong that it had kept living past the point of death. “Time gets a little confusing when one is just Flame; an older self wanted to change things, and thought it would be amusing if he was added to the kit’n pile young Kyō-tan is building. The more well-anchored my tenjō-sama is to real people, the saner he seems to stay.” He blinks, and contemplates the Mist in front of him, debating what his answer should be, and what what had been said revealed about the little Sky he was being asked to, uh, foster.

“Can you at least ease up on the compulsion to think I gave birth to him? This isn’t the first time someone has tried to add to my brood, though the last attempt was by a somewhat clingy Misty Sky, rather than on an Electric Sky’s behalf.”

The mask looks almost confused, and he wonders what he remembers of the past - or the future, or of his Sky - that fostering him with an unknown is a better bet than leaving him with his natal parents or raising him himself. “You will treat him as if he’s yours without the compulsion?”

“Even at his worst, does he cherish his bonds?”

“I … think so. He was grateful for his death after he sacrificed us.”

“And you still want him to be your Sky?” The mask nods. “Then yes, I will. But you need to follow my lead to integrate him into the kit’n pile; the little Cloud collecting them all is Misty, and attempting to manipulate him will end badly. Did you kidnap him, or …?”

“His parents are dead; if I had left him, he would have gone into an orphanage, and then been picked up by a nascent Family for his Sky Flames. Now the world will think he died with them.” He hums thoughtfully.

“He’s a little small to be Takeshi and Hayato’s triplet, but hmm. I need to contact Hibari Mei-Lin; unless you’re willing for him to be in stasis for four months, I think he would do best as a cousin fostered with us.”

“I would prefer no one but you know his origins.”

“No. I need at least to tell Tsuyoshi; my constant illusory state has him resistant to Mist Flames. If we tell Mei-Lin, she can help make sure he has a legal identity. She’s Kyō-tan’s mother, and a Cloud, too.” The mask hisses, but doesn’t disagree. “Will you stay to be his Mist, or at least return in several years? And are any of his other Guardians around … kiri-san?”

“Torikabuto. And given how this has exhausted me, I think I will return when he’s a teenager.” He blinks as the construct folds, leaving the mask to drop to the floor, and he sighs and picks it up, and meanders back to Takesushi with Byakuran cuddling the mask.


	22. Chapter 22

“…”

He hides a smirk behind his hand. The expression on Kyōya’s is absolutely priceless and one that he’s going to treasure for _years_ , if not the rest of his little menace’s life. 

“Where’d’you find an extra tenjō-tan?” 

“He found us. Or his will-be-Mist did. And said Mist wasn’t in a position to look after the new tenjō-kit’n himself, so he decided that we were the best people to foster him with.” Kyōya looks up at him with wide eyed appreciation and he laughs a little bit. “Just don’t take the mask away from him; it’s his Mist, Kyō-tan. Like you know better than to take Shigure Kintoki away from Takeshi even if he’s teething on him.”

“Hn. Kyō-tan find new tenjō-tan kit’ns.” The little Cloud makes a give me gesture, and he settles Byakuran into his arms gently. “Definitely need inazuma kit’n and taiyo kit’n. Kitsune kit’n would haf worked, but Tsu-tan’s now. Kyō-tan think met kumo-tan for new tenjō-tan when with haha-ue. But Kyō-tan haf to check.” Kyōya wraps himself around the new Sky and coos at the flaring Flames and he shakes his head and retreats; there were enough nursemaids in the compound given Mei-Lin’s response to Kyōya’s creativity - they were expecting a couple of temporary additions to the nursery while adoptive parents were found - to ensure that someone would swoop in to take Byakuran if Kyōya tired of him.

Tsuyoshi captures him before he’s halfway across the compound, pulling him into the dojo and pinning him to the wall to kiss. He goes with his husband’s self-appointed mission, relishing the reminder than he wants him, but pushing at his shoulder in gentle rebuke when Tsuyoshi’s hands start to wander. “I prefer locked doors, husband; Kyōya gives the boys far too much ice cream to distract from our games as it is.”

“They burn it off, koi-chan. But I can lock the door -”

“- later, husband. Kyōya’s plotting, and I thought you’d like an update. And a warning; apparently the pile of kit’ns has reached critical mass and is generating new kit’ns by itself.”

“Oh?”

“Byakuran. His Mist decided that we had so many well-loved and unSealed Flame children that we could help anchor his orphaned Sky and keep him from going quietly insane, as far as I can tell.” Or at least that had been his impression from his brief conversation before Torikabuto had retreated back into the mask. “I need to share the expression on Kyōya’s face at the realisation he didn’t recognise the tenjō-kit’n in my arms. It was truly hysterical.” 

He reconstructs the scene for Tsuyoshi with his Flames, and his husband bursts into laughter at the slapped-with-a-wet-fish expression on Kyō-tan’s face. “Have you told him that there’s more kit’ns coming from Kyoto, koi-chan? Or are we surprising him with them?”

“It will probably be more entertaining to surprise him with them, given his response to Byakuran. They’re already his, to an extent, given they’re from Mei-Lin’s, uh, Familiga.” 

“Mmmm.” Tsuyoshi’s Flames warn him of the change in gears. “So how long before I can get you pregnant again, koi-chan …?” He swats his evil husband gently, and then gets a little bit more serious.

“I need a few months, husband, even if Kyōya gets pushy. There’s only so quickly you can rebuild mineral reserves, and a third pregnancy, especially if it’s twins again will weaken my bones more than I’m comfortable with.” Tsuyoshi presses a kiss to his forehead, and he tilts his head in curiosity.

"I’ve had more than a year to recover. If it happens, could I …?

“Potentially. I’d still rather we manage to persuade Kyōya to let his new kit’ns settle in first, and teach him about maternal health so that he doesn’t cause problems we can prevent.” 

“That’s going to be, um, entertaining to watch. Though I suspect our little menace is even smarter and savvier than he’s demonstrating for everyone; it may be his Cloud Flames ‘overflowing’ into his brain.” He blinks. He hadn’t even considered that as to why Kyōya was so cognitively advanced. “He’s more advanced than he should be koi-chan. Hadn’t you realised? He’s five, and reading complex sentences, talking coherently and capable of taking care of multiple babies safely while the adults are out of the room. And we all shrug our shoulders when he escapes and explores Namimori.”

“That’s not normal?”

“… you practised medicine exclusively in the Flame enclaves, didn’t you?”

“Of course. I didn’t have a formal license in Italy; I learned by apprenticeship. I’m not even sure I have a legal identity other than Yamamoto Lavina, husband, given that both my parents were Flame wielders.” Tsuyoshi makes a hissing sound, and then his husband’s shoulders slump. 

“Given what I know of the Europeans, why doesn’t that surprise me? Is that why you were so keen that he boys were a hospital birth, so they’d be properly documented as ours, koi-chan?”

“Something like that. I want them to have the choice to dance between the two Worlds, rather than be permanently enmeshed only in the Ukyko, husband.” Tsuyoshi’s lips twitch, and he blinks at the sudden surge of cloudy possessiveness.

“You give yourself away, koi-chan.” 

… what the fuck was his husband talking about?! 

“I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to notice it.” 

Notice _what_?

«… _husband_ » the voice in his head is his own, and he goes bright pink and splutters as he realises what his demon husband is showing him, and he wants to deny it but he can’t. «I knew you loved me, koi-chan, but I hadn’t realised you’d been saying it out loud since before the boys were a week old.» 

He squeaks as Tsuyoshi pulls him into a hug, and he throws Flames at the world, reflexively, trying something he hasn’t even attempted since he failed at it in training, and succeeding in changing their location. Apparently, embarrassment and or the desire for privacy was an excellent motivator? Not that his failure would have dissuaded Tsuyoshi, _but_.

“Call me husband again, koi-chan? Please?” Tsuyoshi’s hunger is audible in his voice. It makes him _squirm_.


	23. Chapter 23

“Nope, nope, nope. We’ve already done this once, though the Sky in question was significantly younger than you.” The teenage girl throws her head back and laughs at his indignation.

“I’m not trying to get myself adopted, Shamal.” Byakuran made a little sound where he was held in her arms. “Fon just wanted me away from Mama for a bit, and I wanted to meet the man who accidentally changed the future so much.” 

“Give me my son, Aria Giglio-Nero, and your word that you will not _look_ at us while you’re here.”

“You’re tempting me to stay, Shamal. Do you know how rare it is that someone _doesn’t_ want me to look at the Future for them? For their children?”

“I don’t like the idea that the Future’s fixed.”

“This little one -” she hands Byakuran back to him, and he lets the little Electric Sky mouth at his breast for a moment before sighing and shifting things so he can latch on, using a little Mist to stop the boy chewing on his nipple. “- conquers the World in most realities and then breaks the Tri-ne-sette to save my daughter. But she’s one of the only people he cares about, and when she tells him that she can’t live with what he’s done, he keeps her as his Doll. But here, if you keep doing what you’re doing, he’s _happy_. And I don’t see the _Future_. Just the most likely one based on people’s _likely_ responses. It gets unreliable the further I try to look, and Mama’s insistence that our gift is infallible is _terrifying_. She thinks Tsunayoshi’s going to be Vongola Decimo, you know? And that I will take the curse _willingly_.” Byakuran wails around his nipple and he soothes his adopted child. 

He glares at her and she shrugs. “The Future showed me Gamma and five nondescript _political_ Guardians before I decided to comply with Fon’s demand. Now it shows Gamma, and those nondescript Guardians are gone, replaced by a Hibari and others. And no pacifier.” He reaches out, brushing his Flames over hers, comparing them to the last time he’d treated the Giglio-Nero heiress; there are marked differences, including the absence of what Luce had told him was their ‘gift’.

“… did Fon use his Flames on you before you left Italy?”

“Only to destroy Mama’s brainwashing.” Aria grins. “How long did that take you to figure out?”

“I let her tell me that the shadow in your Flames was your bloodline gift, not her work.”

“Ah. So. Can you change my DNA enough that Mama can’t use our blood to force the Pacifier onto me? I have some of Sephira’s blood if that would help.”

“Perhaps. I’ll have to do some research. You can repay me for the work by baby-sitting Kyōya and his little pack _if_ he approves of you; they’re getting a little rambunctious for their nursemaids at the moment, and if you’re a competent Sky -” the insinuation that she isn’t is deliberate, a goad, “- you’ll be able to keep up with them at least until Tsuna and Byakuran are a little older. And don’t exorcise or confiscate the mask this little monster -” Byakuran squirms and stays determinedly attached to his nipple, “- is prone to chewing on; it’s his Mist.”

She blinks, confused. He grins, his smile wicked. 

“In fact, why don’t we introduce them to you _now_? When was the last time you met an _Active_ infant Cloud …?”

“Uh, never. They don’t survive -”

“They don’t survive in _Italy_. The Hibari have the knack of raising them safely, and their current youngest Cloud is my nephew-by-marriage and the senior Guardian in Tsunayoshi’s set. He’s five.”

“… can I use my Sight to keep him from terrorising me too much?”

“Sure. Just no deliberate prophecies. Seeing traps is just self-defense.”


	24. Chapter 24

He doesn’t quite trust Aria - it’s not her fault, but he’s both had bad experiences with adult Skies in the past and there was Iemitsu in the present - which is his only excuse for watching over her the first three or four times he lets her care for Kyoya’s kit’n hoard. (They scramble all over her, the older ones, like a literal litter of kittens, and the sight makes him giggle enough that the teenage Sky and his Cloudy nephew both clock his presence, even if they both choose not to call him on his hovering.) 

Even if he doesn’t actually lurk in the room after that, he does leave several of his mosquitos monitoring the nursery and the compound - just as precaution; it was entirely possible that the Giglio Nero Donna would want her heiress back to re-brainwash - which is how he knows that it’s Aria’s fault that he feels like he’s moving through syrup and Tsu-kun and Byakuran are giggling and clapping respectively. It’s also how he knows how to break through the syrup, because Aria had at least been teaching Kyoya that half of the skill set, too. It made him sad that his sons - they were his as far as he was concerned, even if he did have to share two of them - were learning to stop bullets so young, but they swum in the Ukiyo which made it a necessary skill. That it also helped them with learning to conceal their Flame signatures and with resistance to foreign Flames was only a bonus.

“So why start with that?”

“So no-one does to them what Mama did to me.” It made sense, it really did, though he was going to urgently need to teach the adults around the kit’ns how to counter it enough to be able to chase down escapees; they’d never keep a nursemaid if he didn’t, and given the number of ‘kit’ns’ they were doomed to have, he refused to be the only one changing diapers. And he valued his sleep; it kept him sane and in control of his illusions. “And don’t worry too much, Shamal-san. While they’ll overtake me when they hit puberty, I’m stronger than the two of them for now, so we’ll have time to teach them ethics and control without a Seal. And no, that’s not a prophecy; I’ve just met enough Italian Skies to know how to gauge even a latent’s strength. Your oldest boy’s secondary Flame would take a lot of development to support a set - it’s about as much as Fabio supposedly had, and his journals make it clear he’d have rather had a Sky than _be_ the Sky - and I get why you’re hiding him from his sperm donor’s men, especially with how well Bianchi is learning to be Donna. It’s not fair that she has to do that so young, but she’ll be good at it.”

He _almost_ kills her there and then. She’d _promised_.

She sighs. “I mean it. It’s not a prophecy. I’m just good at watching people; it’s all Mama would let me do. It’s like I can see that Kyoya’s excited; he knows some thing is about to happen, and he’s right; the more I work with Tsuna and his set, the earlier they’ll be able to bond because their Flames will be under their conscious control. If the Ninth was rational, they could be presented as early as next year, but instead I’m going to teach them how to hide their Harmony, which is thoroughly depressing. But he’d kill them if he can’t control them; Federico and Xanxus have both had a number of near misses after they defied him, and that’s the start of a pattern.” He hisses, and she grins, and then her eyes go orange, and she shakes her head. “He’s in decline; I’ve met enough people whose futures look like _that_ to recognise what’s going on. When I realised Mama was wrong about how our gift works I made a point of exploring how it _does_ work. He scrambles things the same way that the dementia patients do; the way they make decisions makes the future feel fixed and simplistic.”

… that was surprisingly useful to know. But also terrifying, given the number of men that Don Vongola could order into pitched battle, and the man’s strength. He’d have to warn Mei-Lin so she could trickle out the news to be extra wary of the Italians, and hopeful the two youngest would realise their father was behind their near misses and finish him off quickly. Xanxus was a little young, but Federico should be well enough trained to manage it, especially with the familiarity-bred-contempt as camouflage.

Aria makes a face, probably at his train of thought and the possibilities spiralling out from the way he was thinking. “Shamal, I really, really need you to still your mind and stop _thinking_. At least until I can get my brain to stop _Seeing_. Think of pink elephants or something equally innocuous, before I genuinely do start prophesising; it does happen sometimes, though not as much as Mama pretends it does.” He tries, but things pop into his head, and the Sky Flames get very, very dense, far more so than he’s ever experienced in proximity to any other Sky, including Luce when she ‘prophesied’ in front of him. “Oh, things are going to get very entertaining, Shamal. I’m staying; Kyo-tan has such a pretty Cloud he’s going to wrangle for me, and the others will be able to find me here, too.”

The Sky Flames fade, and Aria shakes her head, a cat-that-got-the-cream grin on her lips. “Kyoya has enough kit’ns on the way; don’t add to them yet. You need to try and wait until you’re in your early twenties, please; the earlier you spawn, the harder I’m going to have to work to keep you healthy during the process. And Nana is already forcing me to work hard enough with her tendency to conceive the moment she sees Iemitsu, even if she’s only just given birth.” 

“She’s not going to stop doing that until he’s dead. But he’ll be dead soon; Enrico’ll nearly get killed and then Xanxus will lose his temper? At least that’s the most common future.” He contemplates the complications that might cause; at least Nana would probably only have another one or two pregnancies after this one, which would mean he could concentrate on fixing her bones once she was done bearing, rather than finding a solution that would keep her calcium levels stable through another dozen pregnancies. 

“I thought you were going to avoid Seeing.”

“I met Xanxus at the last Ball I had to attend before I left Italy for Japan; I Saw it then. I could …?”

“… it won’t effect that much here, other than making me feel less guilty for the way Tsuyoshi and I parent his children, so no. Because I don’t want you to feel you have to See in order to stay here.” Aria looks like she’s been hit with a wet fish, and he scrolls back mentally through his conversation with her to figure out what he’d done to break her.

“Why didja break Aria-chan, Mama?” Hayato tugs on his leg, and he picks him up, perching his little tempest on his hip. Kyoya grins up at him from the door, and then he goes down under the swarm of toddlers. Even Byakuran gets into the act with Kyoya’s help, though their little cuckoo isn’t walking _yet_. (He’s just relieved that they haven’t decided to include the littlest ones. Even the more precocious of his new twins hadn’t reliably figured out crawling yet, and he’d hate to find out how Kyoya would manage five mostly immobile babies plus the very squirmy and giggly Byakuran who he suspected was only immobile because he liked being carried and cuddled. He indulged the boy because of everything Torikabuto had implied, because he suspected part of the reason the Mist had left him with it was his tendency to indulge all of the children in their desire for skin contact.)

“I didn’t do it deliberately, Kyo-tan. I just told her that she didn’t have to ‘perform’ in order to be accepted and stay in Japan.” 

“Ah. Haha-ue said the Italians were like that. They think Skies should lead.” Kyo-tan grins. 

“Tsu-tan just wants to cuddle. Kyo-tan can do the work, Mama.” He eyes the little Cloudy menace - who he can feel trying to make him want more kit’ns - who has obviously coached his sons’ Sky to be adorable at him. The fact was given away by Tsuna’s use of ‘Mama’ and his angelic smile.

“Kyo-tan hafta to work harder.” The little monster doesn’t specify on _what_ , but given the Cloud Flame pressure eases, it’s on getting more kit’ns. 

“Why don’t you spread the joy a little, Kyō-tan?” He’s going to regret the goad - or at least his husband and Akari will - but Nana’s already started a third pregnancy and his own bones need a break before he has to do something drastic to make sure they don’t get brittle. “But leave Yui alone. She’s panicking about having more than two still.” Takeshi tugged at his other leg, and he leans down and scoops him up, too. “Or maybe look further afield, little menace; maybe Chiyo-hime will need a different set of Guardians to Tsu-kun? Or maybe one of their younger siblings will?”

“Hn. Chiyo-chan is adorable. But her littermates are all Stormy -“ he makes a sound and Tsuna tackles Kyō-tan just as he starts to look genuinely thoughtful. 

“What Tsu-tan say? No evil, Kyō-tan.”

“But only Sun for Chiyo-chan is loud-plant …” Kyō-tan pouts at Tsuna, and he fixes the sight in his memory to reproduce for Fon and Mei-Lin later.

“And why would that be so bad Kyō-tan?”

“He’s _loud_ and makes me want to bite him to death.” He can’t help the snicker. The war between Ryohei on one side, and Kyōya and his newest non-kit’n minion was getting amusing, and was part of the reason he was willing to let Aria stay.

“He’s not going to be the Sun in your set, little menace. Let Tsuruhime be the one who bites him, okay?”

“Pwomise?”

“Shamal asked me not to Look, little menace, but your little kitsune is already _very_ much Tsuna’s Sun. It’s very obvious to anyone who knows how to look, and while Tsu-tan will have more than enough strength for more later, one of each is plenty for him for now …”


	25. Chapter 25

Removing the Flames at Nana's is almost disconcertingly easy with Aria's help. They descend on her en masse, Kyoya pre-primed to distract Nana if there's a spill over or a light show of some sort, but even that precaution isn't needed. All that happens in the end is that the young Sky scoops up a slightly indignant Hayato and murmurs something in his little tempest's ear that makes him clap and giggle, and then walks through the house with him, pointing at the worst of the smears of Iemitsu's Flames. When they're done, Hayato's fast asleep in Aria's arms, exhausted, and Nana is already doing better, though he doesn't have a pre-Iemitsu baseline to compare to. (He's turned himself into an excellent paediatrician over the post couple of years, and he'd eat the contents of Tsuyoshi's offal bin if Nana didn't have inattentive-type ADHD. Whether she'd had it since she was Tsuna's age, or it was acquired was the real question.)

"We'll have to come back before Iemitsu's next visit to hide what we've just done, Lavina -" He takes back what he said about it being easy; Aria sounds exhausted. "- it's going to need you and I working together to make it look believable, and that's worn me out; Iemitsu's deceptively strong." He lifts his son out of her arms, resting the sleeping toddler on his hip, and gathers the others up with a look that had Kyoya herding the little ones back out to the car. Nana's sprawled on the couch, barely conscious, and he probes her gently with his Flames. It's primarily exhaustion and withdrawal, and she's not paying any attention to what they're saying.

"Tsu-kun stay with kaa-chan. Kaa-chan need to sleep. Tsu-kun like having siblings, but kaa-chan gets silly when kaa-chan is tired, and kaa-chan tired a _lot_. Kaa-chan doesn't even notice that Chiyo and Tsuru don't live here and she only has Tsu-kun at home. Tsu-kun thinks Tsu-kun's imoto-chan should stay with Lavina-Mama until Kaa-chan is better. Tsu-kun can call for Kyo-tan, but Tsu-kun's Hime-chans can't." Aria crouches down and gives Tsuna a hug, their Sky Flames tangling together in a way that reminds him of some of the more affectionate and equal Guardian bonds that he'd seen when he'd been in Italy.

"Kyo-tan will keep an eye on Hummingbird-chan and Tsu-tan. Kyo-tan is a good Cloud." He reaches down and ruffles the little menace's hair. "Kyo-tan thinks that Hummingbird-chan should move into the compound though. Then Hummingbird-chan be safe for Kyo-tan's kit'ns. She forgets stuff, -"

"We'll talk to her about it when she's had a few days to 'detox', Kyoya. And I'll start the process for getting her additional needs diagnosed, if only so we know how to teach her to manage herself." Tsuna climbs up onto the couch and nestles in beside her. "Tsu-kun, are you going to be okay if we leave you with Nana?" The little Sky nods, and settles into radiating undirected Flames at Nana. "Then we'll see you in the morning, Tsu-kun, when Nana's awake. If you need someone to bring the two of you dinner, then you know how to ask, right, sweetheart?"

"Tsu-kun phone. Or if Tsu-kun really worried, Tsu-kun'll pull Kyo-san here."


	26. Chapter 26

“At least he asked this time. Whatever lecture you gave him really worked, Lavina-chan.” Yui still looked a little rattled, but calmer than she had when she’d learnt she was pregnant with Akito. “But how did he even make it happen? I know how hard it was to conceive Haru - how _expensive_ -”

“Do you remember I explained a bit about how he did it before?” Yui nods, and he finishes preparing her bowl of tea; the mix was less traditional than it could be, but it would help with the all-day-sickness that had told him that Yui was pregnant again. “Words - names - are important, and can shape things. I suspect Flames were once a lot more diverse, but we’ve changed them with how we’ve used and named them. Kyō-tan didn’t have those prejudices when he decided what his territory was. So he’s using a facet of his Flames that most can’t; he’s applying their primary property to a concept rather than an object.”

Yui takes a sip of the tea, then tilts her head, thoughtfully. “But you said Haru would find it Hard to fail if we encouraged her.”

“And she will. I recognised what Kyō-tan was doing when I got pregnant the second time, and given everything that happens in the Ukiyo I want my children to have every available advantage which means leaving the old prejudices about what their Flames can do behind, and not using the childhood seals.”

“You make it sound like there’s something you’re expecting to happen.”

“You’ve met Aria-chan, right, Yui-chan?”

“She’s the teenager that’s been chasing around after Kyō-tan and Tsu-kun, right?” 

He grins. “She’s like Tsu-kun, Yui-chan. She stands to inherit one of the more quietly powerful clans in the Ukiyo. Kyō-tan’s uncle will be her Storm - there’s some complexity to the details there - and he brought her here to undo some of the damage her mother did. But if Luce is so corrupt, then it’s possible some of the other heads are, too, and I want our children to be able to stand up to them.”

“And at least with the way Nana-chan keeps getting pregnant every time _HE_ visits, we can be pretty sure the kids will have a Sky to shelter with.” Tomoko grins. “Wish I could put a knife in his back. I have fantasies about cutting his spinal cord at each vertebrae and watching him flail about the pain and paralysis, but fucking Sky magic bullshit means he’d heal. You need a Sky to put a Sky down. Aria admitted that. S’why the Ninth lets Xanxus be Varia; he needs a Sky assassin.”

“Could she -?” The only reason he doesn’t smack her is that Yui sounds incredibly hesitant asking the question. 

“It’s not where her talents lay, Yui-chan. Iemitsu’s a heavy combat weapon.” He hesitates and then draws a mundane comparison. “He’s a tank; she’s an unarmed drone. Even a kamikaze attack would be unlikely to work. Given everything Aria and I have heard from Italy, we wait, we look after Nana when Iemitsu comes back again and breaks her mind again, and we wait for the other two ‘tanks’ in the situation to deal with him.” 

Akari shivers; for the mother of the single loudest child in Namimori - Ryohei’s volume broke through even basic Seals, and he’d hated himself for trying that, and promptly removed it when it didn’t work - she’s awfully quiet. “Lavina-chan, could I study with you a bit? I want to be able to help Nana even if we can’t stop him.”

“I think Ito-chan and I would welcome the help, Akari-chan.” At least two of her children had Sun Flames and he judged her their more likely source; he wonders if he can coax her own into activating her intelligence. He suspected no one had ever seriously encouraged her to do anything other than become a housewife. And given Mei-Lin’s laughing admission that the nursemaids were there to stay and clan dependents, there was always going to be childcare available. (Volunteers, who Mei-Lin trusted with her Kyō-tan, her Cloudy heir, so vulnerable and powerful in the same ways.) “What are you interested in learning?”

Akari knits her fingers, and then that Flame he'd been speculating about flares to life in the back of her eyes. "I want to be able to put Nana-chan back together if I can't stop her being broken."

He winces, but he can go with that as a motivation, especially if it had woken her Dying Will. He just wished it wasn't necessary.


	27. Chapter 27

“How is Arami-chan doing, Mei-Lin?” Haruki makes a small sound, and he runs his Flames over those of the baby asleep in the carrier on his back, and then repeats the action with Kousuke; if one of his little tsunami woke, the other followed quickly.

“She’s decided that Fon’s her favourite person. He is finding it disconcerting that I appear to have birthed the perfect heir for him, especially as she’s already crawling after him.” He laughs; somehow he’s not surprised that Kyōya’s little sister was skipping developmental stages, especially as Mei-Lin was breastfeeding her and, after he’d made a suggestion, being _very_ generous with her Cloud Flames. “And how’s Kyō-tan doing, Shamal-chan? Is he behaving himself?”

“He’s learned to ask, at least. Even if he does set traps for the unwary -” Mei-Lin laughs, and Arami makes a sound that has her mother cooing and freeing a breast for her daughter. “- are you going to keep Arami in Kyoto with you, or should I make up a space in the nursery for her?”

“I’ll keep her with me a bit longer; she’s growing fast but she’s safe enough with me for now. The Storm-born are less dangerous to themselves than those like Kyō-tan and I.” Arami mouths at her mother’s breast and latches on, making Mei-lin wince slightly. “Could you? I know you had some workings for other parts of this process -”

He refrains from laughing and shows her how to shape Mist Flames to produce a thin shield to cover her nipple against the wear and tear of a bite-y Storm nursing. “You’re not having any other issues -”

“Inari, no. Though if you have that working figured out how to make the men do the work, I have one who needs punished, -” 

“- you’re pregnant again?”

“No. But Setsuna’s imouto-chan is, and she’s not healthy enough. I’ve not slit his throat yet; I remember what you said.”

“Will he try and harm their child?” Mei-Lin looks at him sharply, and shakes her head.

“The punishment is for forgetting to take precautions, not for taking advantage of Setsuna’s imouto-chan. Better I slit his throat than what he’ll do to himself if she dies.” 

“That I can work with. We’ll need someone to watch the little ones, and he’ll need to move to Namimori so I can monitor things.”

“She was going to accompany Setsuna, anyway; there are enough young of the clan that stationing the Kusakabe in Namimori makes sense.” There’s hesitance in Mei-Lin’s voice, and he wonders what she’s seeing that she’s detaching her right hand to their quiet little town. “With two heirs and their sets it would be expected.”

“Does that mean you’ll visit more often?”

“Perhaps. It depends on whether the presence of little Tsuna is enough to keep things harmonious; multiple Clouds in one location can make things complicated.” He coughs, trying to hide his laughter. “Shamal?”

“There’s four Skies in the compound most days and Nana-chan’s working on adding numbers five and six, I think. Certainly on adding number five; I’m not sure on their twin.” Mei-Lin looks half stunned, and he snickers. “Did Fon not tell you that he kidnapped his future Sky and dumped her in Namimori as a baby-sitter so she’d come out saner than her mother?”

“No. No he didn’t. But that only explains _two_ skies.”

“One of Nana’s first set of twins was a Sky; Chiyohime’s a sweetheart, and Kyōya’s very protective over her while Tsuruhime grows up enough to guard her. And then there’s Byakuran -”

“Byakuran?” Mei-Lin’s eyebrows are in her hairline, and he settles down to explain the story, and then follows it up with Aria’s work on Nana’s house and their installation of her in the compound. “Shit. No, A Mist clone or even a version of what you were doing won’t survive intimate contact with a Sky. We could hide her, theoretically, but I doubt I could persuade my clan to court war with the Vongola; it’s bad enough that you’re hiding the man’s heirs from him if he figures it out.”


	28. Chapter 28

“Kyō-tan saw something _important_.” The six-year-old was a _menace_ and one who knew exactly what he was doing when he used the ‘cute’ third person to speak. “Shamal-san needs to see it, too, or won’t believe Kyō-tan.” He lets the little Cloud draw him towards the gardens of the compound, and permits the boy’s Mist Flame to cover them both, so they can move like shinobi, and he wonders what he’s being taken to see.

Nana with her youngest son and daughter, weaving a soft story complete with dancing Sky Flames is not what he expects, and he almost falls out of the tree he and Kyōya are perched in. That had not been the end result he’d envisioned when they’d started trying to peel Iemitsu’s influence away from her Flames, but he’s not going to complain. “You’re right. I wouldn’t have believed it, Kyōya. Has Aria-chan been teaching her?” 

The little Cloud shakes his head. “Kyō-tan’s little carnivore taught his kaa-chan. Kyō-tan thinks it’s adorable. Kyō-tan thought his kit’n was being silly, but kit’n knew somehow.” Iemitsu was Vongola, for all he didn’t wear the name, and Vongola Skies were supposed to have hyper-intuition; perhaps teaching his kaa-chan was how Tsuna was showing it.

“I’m glad that we coaxed her into moving into the compound. This is going to complicate things.” 

“Kyō-tan ask ji-sama to set fire to bad Sky?”

“Tempting.” He shakes his head, though. “But not a solution, Kyōya. Your uncle can’t kill him without it descending into war. Nor can we, and for all Tsuna, Chiyo, Kamematsu and Kametsuru are strong Skies, they’re also babies, and I refuse to risk him twisting them up if we fail. We keep playing the game for now, sweetheart.” Kyōya pouts at him, trying to change his mind, but he doesn’t. 

“But the bad Sky will come back again, and hummingbird-chan will forget and he’ll hurt her.”

“And we’ll pick up the pieces, little one, and hope.” 

“Don’t like it, mama.” Kyōya’s murmured words, whispered into his throat break his heart, but he has no idea how to stop Iemitsu from whirling back into Namimori and obliterating Nana’s will again. She’ll always be susceptible to him, and the only option other than picking up the pieces - or killing the man - would be to take her and run. But where to -

\- but this was supposed to be Sanctuary. If Iemitsu could reach her even here, there was nowhere they could run to that would be far _enough_.


	29. Chapter 29

“Nana-koi!” He thanks every deity he can remember that none of the children are with them. How had Iemitsu _snuck_ back into Namimori? Did it mean that there was a gap in their protections? Did he suspect that there was something going on? “Can I steal you away from your cute friend? I’m only in Namimori for a couple of hours, and I was hoping we could take advantage of it -” the man doesn’t even give him a moment to resist, to reach for his mosquitos, to do _something_ , instead reaching for his Sky Flames in a dazzling burst that has Nana’s eyes sliding blank, and his own head spinning, “- though she could join us if you insist?” That snaps him out of it, though there’s almost nothing he can do.

“ _Iemitsu_!” Nana slaps his arm, giggling, already sliding back into her worst habits. “Lavina-chan’s just a friend, sweetheart. She’s married to the local sushi chef and has the most adorable babies. Six boys! And the most adorable baby girl.”

“Will you give me that many sweetheart? Things are -” Iemitsu cuts himself off by kissing Nana, pouring Sky Flames into her, and then sweeping her off her feet. “Have some sushi delivered for us, Lavina-chan; I have a feeling we’ll be hungry soon enough.” Iemitsu doesn’t give him any time to answer, carrying Nana off down the road, and he bangs his head against the table and wishes he had some way to be sure that the bastard would just stay dead already; he was almost at the point of contracting for it. He had to have enough savings for Xanxus to consider the contract, right? And gods, he hoped that Nana wouldn’t have septuplets; the poor woman got quite big enough with twins, and that many babies would mean bed rest almost from the beginning, especially given how tenacious flame-born were. His fingers tap a rapid message into his cell-phone, warning the other mothers that Iemitsu is in town, has Nana, is likely taking his marital ‘dues’ as they speak, and then slumps back in the chair - he’d hoped, gods, he’d hoped. But if wishes were fishes, they’d all be rich, and they weren’t. At least Nana had had some time to recover from Kamematsu and Kametsuru’s births? Small mercies, but -

He shakes his head, and packs up his bag, picking up Nana’s as well - of course Iemitsu had abandoned it there - and makes his way back to Takesushi. 

“Koi-chan?” Tsuyoshi’s painfully close to giving birth, but the illusion hides that, tucks their triplets away into their very own pocket universe - not that Tsuyoshi can hold it the whole time, but it lets him run Takesushi - and all he wants to do is drag his husband back to Kyōya’s compound and fort up until he knows Iemitsu is back out of Namimori. Wants to sob his apologies to Tsuna for not being strong enough to avoid Nana being broken one more time. But he can’t. Not yet. “Koi-chan, you’re worrying me.”

“Iemitsu snuck into Namimori. Presumably one of the CEDEF Mists helped him do so -” Tsuyoshi shoves his apron off, dropping it to the floor and he must look a complete mess for his husband to do so, but he’s grateful for the warm arms wrapped around him and the thrum of their babies’ Flames under the man’s skin. “- he’s got Nana, husband. He just snatched her up, and even propositioned me, too.” Tsuyoshi growls softly, and he smacks him gently. “I know your blade is a Sky killer, but Nana said no, husband. You’re not allowed to risk her goddaughter, or either of her brothers.”

“Tell me the rest of the bad news, koi-chan. Before I let go of you and try to kill the will-thief.” 

“She told him how many babies we have, and asked her if she’d give him that many. Poured so much of his Flame into her, I’m surprised she didn’t combust on the spot.” Tsuyoshi winces, and presses a kiss to his forehead. “I had her on contraceptives - her choice - but I suspect that just burnt straight past them. She’s going to be so miserable, and he’s not going to let her away from him until he’s sure they’ve taken, I suspect. Not with how desperate he sounded.”

“Shit. How far into her training has Akari gotten?”

“Far enough. I hope.”


	30. Chapter 30

“Come here, koi-chan.” Tsuyoshi holds his hands out to him and he tumbles into his husband’s arms like he’s the only anchor left. “We’ll put together something for Nana-chan, and then we’ll go bury ourselves under the boys, and wait out his presence.” 

The two of them dance around each other carefully; while Tsuyoshi didn’t quite trust him with the fish - not without a lot more time spent in the kitchen, training - he was perfectly proficient at putting together the various side dishes, and this way neither of them were tempted to pull one of the pufferfish out of storage. While it was delicious - and it was proof of how much he trusted his husband that he ate the fine slivers of fugu from his fingers - neither of them trusted themselves not to poison the larger of the two bento they were preparing. 

When they’re done, Tsuyoshi wraps them in Rain Flames, to slow decomposition, and hands them to his errand boy for delivery to Nana’s house - warning the boy to put them on the doorstep, to alert the residents with a carefully thrown rock, and then _run_ \- before the two of them close the restaurant and slip back through the link to the Hibari compound.

The quietness of the compound means he catches the flicker in his stupid husband’s Flames and _that_ would do nicely as a distraction from what was happening in the Sawada house, and given that it wasn’t him giving birth, they could have Kyōya’s clowder of kit’ns in the space too, because there wasn’t going to be blood everywhere. “Husband, you’re ready.”

“Maa, maa. I wondered when you would notice that.” He throws up his hands and stalks through into the former dojo that had turned into their nest. (It wasn’t the only one on the grounds which is why he’d had no compunctions about repurposing it, and this was where they were happy to be invaded by the kit’ns; it had taken some negotiations, but the older of the little ones now understood that if they were in their bedroom, it was adult time, and in the nest, they were more than open for cuddles.) Tsuyoshi follows him through and settles into the big pile of cushions before reconnecting the pseudo-womb to his body properly. Not that he’d be giving birth in a traditional sense; he’d be reaching through Tsuyoshi’s skin to lift the little ones out.

Their presence in the dojo-turned-nest is quickly noticed by the kit’ns, who swarm them, tumbling him into the nest alongside his husband, and cuddling. It makes him reluctant to tell Tsuna - currently under his chin and rubbing against him gently, like a kit’n seeking to be scented - about the fact his sperm donor was in town and had stolen his mother away to impregnate. Again. 

“He’s here, isn’t he, Mama?” Tsuna whispers the words into his throat, and he sighs, petting his little Misty-Sky with his Flames.

“He is. But we’ll be able to put your kaa-chan back together again, Tsuna-kun, and you’ll get more siblings out of it.”

“Don’t want more siblings. Want kaa-chan to be ’ppy and healfy, Mama.” He nuzzles into soft hair, and sighs.

“None of us are strong enough to kill him right now without making things even worse, Tsu-kun. Now. There was another reason we wanted everyone here; it’s time for Tsuyoshi’s kit’ns to be born, sweetheart. Do you want to hold your godsister for me?” Tsuna nods eagerly, and Kyōya bounces out of their pile to go and get the stack of blankets he’s been weaving his Flames into for months even as he makes Tsuyoshi roll and whine so he has to reach through the absolutely minimum amount of his husband’s body to fish them out. “Takeshi, Hayato, are you ready to take your little brothers?” He gets nods from both of them, and Kyōya drops the relevant blanket and a bottle into each set of arms and then turns to check on the littlest mobile ones as he reaches into his husband’s distended abdomen, and curls careful hands and Flames around one of his sons.

He lefts him out gently, and directs the secondary he’s been working on since their twins’ birth to destroy the faux-cord anchoring him to his husband’s Flames, and presses a kiss to the little one’s forehead, before handing him to his little Hurricane, and then he’s reaching for the other boy, easing him out and repeating the gesture before giving him to their Typhoon and reaching for the little girl, their surprise, and she’s painfully Misty, and he swallows and giggles almost hysterically as he touches her Flames and realises why; he supposed he should have expected anything with Flames so actively in play, but finding he has a daughter by Eiko has to take the cake.

She’s adorable, and a truly powerful Mist. Possibly Viper’s equal. He soothes her gently and slips the simplest Seal he knows on to her Flames; he doesn’t want to wake up to find that she’s twisting reality around her with baby dreams. Tsuna still gives him a slightly betrayed look as he hands her to him and settles to restoring his husband’s system to something adjacent to male-standard. “I thought you hated doing that, Mama?”

“She’s going from warm and safe and protected inside her tou-san, sweetheart, to cool and bright and on her own. Could you feel the way her Flames were rolling as I pulled her out? When she dreams, the world around her will twist without it. There are reasons why outside a Clan so few Mists and Clouds make it to adulthood.”

“She will.” He smiles at the sweet determination on Tsuna’s face, and the baby-barely there Flames of a four-year-old Sky on guard against monsters. “I need to know Seals. Teach me, mama?”

“I will, sweetheart.” He presses a kiss to Tsuna’s forehead with aching gentleness and then sighs and flops down beside his husband, amused at the way that Byakuran evades being landed on, and then there’s all of the little ones on top of them, and uneasy peace. He knows he needs to go to Nana, and soon, to patch her back together yet again, but he’ll take this moment.


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter is fairly heavy on the hurt. This is the last time that Iemitsu will be in a position to do what he does; he's scheduled to die, though I have to flip a coin for at whose hands. There'll be plenty of comfort in the next few chapters.

He slips into Nana’s Sky-saturated, wrecked house mere minutes after their watchers confirm that Iemitsu has left Namimori on the way to Tokyo International, and less than an hour after he decides he’s going to need to reach out to Reborn to beg for him to take a contract, even if it risks exposing him and Hayato. Nana’s out of it, sprawled on the bed, and he swallows, and shakes his head, carrying her into the master bathroom. While it was tempting to contact the police and report Iemitsu for rape, he doubted that it would help in the long term. But without evidence of how he - Iemitsu - had coerced her, and without injuries beyond those that mirrored those from enthusiastic and rough sex it would be hard to make charges stick, and that didn’t even get into whether he _could_ be charged with rape given he was her husband.

He shapes his Flames in the way that Aria had drilled him to, and Nana clings to him in the shower, sobbing, and it breaks his heart. He allows her the illusion of privacy, the torrent of hot water covering up the salty tears soaking into his shirt. She cries herself out, fortunately before the tank runs out of hot water, and perhaps he’d been cruel to bring her down so quickly, but the longer she’d been allowed to ride the Sky Flame ‘high’ the harder that going cold turkey would have been. With her unconscious again, he washes her off and redresses both of them; he does try to flush her womb, but the bastard must have poured half of his ridiculous reserves into her to force conception given how ‘sticky’ everything is, and he gives up trying in favour of making sure she’s as comfortable as possible. 

Once she’s redressed, he carries her out to the waiting car, and whisks her away to the compound. He doubts any of them will be willing to let her return to the house any time soon, especially if all of the sparks that he can feel stick once Aria and Tsuna have drained the remaining Flames away. What the fuck had Iemitsu been thinking to try and force so many children on Nana in one go? Twins were hard enough work, let alone more, as Tsuyoshi’s somewhat rough pregnancy had proven. (Though that had mostly been their baby girl’s fault; she had comparatively little of Tsuyoshi in her make up, and that had required some careful support.) Four or five in Nana’s far smaller frame would be even trickier, and she had barely recovered from Kametsuru and Kamematsu’s birth; she was already running nutritional deficits. 

On their return to the compound, he carries her upstairs and tucks her into the nest that they’d built for her in the nursery, and allows Tsuna to curl up on top of her, and pushes the big cot that the two sets of younger twins share as close to the nest as he dares.

“Guard them for me, please, Kyoya-tan. I need to go and talk to Tsuyoshi and finish setting up the contract I’ve taken up on Iemitsu. I want his death to be _messy_.” Kyoya snickers, and drops from his perch on the top of the door to drift across the room to join the pile. With Nana as safe as he can make her for now, he brings the defensive illusions around the nursery up, and slips back through the compound to find his husband. He finds him nursing their newest trio in their own bedroom, their daughter sprawled on a blanket with an adorable little milk belly, and the boys firmly latched to his nipples.

“Nana’s in the nursery. He went too far this time, Tsuyoshi.”

“Shhh. If it’s that bad, -”

“It is. She’s got _five_ zygotes, husband. And he’s saturated her body with Sky Flames. If we hadn’t helped her prepare as much as we did, she’d be a zombie -”

“- tel Reborn that I’ll owe him a favour, too. I’m sure he doesn’t need my training, but I’ll take on one student on his recommendation, no questions asked.” He makes a small sound of acknowledgement, and crawls into the nest of futons and blankets with his husband. What he needed right now were his babies.


	32. Chapter 32

“Kaa-chan’s awake, Mama. She’s crying. Can Mama help Tsu-kun fix this?” He rolls away from where he’s plastered to Tsuyoshi’s side, their daughter mouthing at his husband’s swollen nipple, looking for more milk, and faces Tsuna, the tiny Sky’s eyes bright orange rather than their normal caramel. “She’s cuddling ’tsuru and ’matsu and crying.”

“Shhh. It’ll take time but we can help her, Tsu-kun.” The little Sky launches himself at him, and he draws him into a tight hug and summons up clothes, made of his Flames, tight woven real illusions that will cover him adequately. “In fact, she needs to cry to bleed some of the poison out; we can look at different tears under a microscope later to see why. I think you should come with me while I make a video call instead. I need to persuade my sensei to stop that man ever doing this again, and he has a soft spot for little ones.” Not to mention that Tsuna already looked like a miniature Primo. There’s a lot Italy will do for the original, and he taps his lip. “I need to redress you, sweetheart, to set the stage. Don’t dispel it, please. You’ll likely dispel my clothes, too. And I don’t need to flash sensei.”

“Tsu-kun be good.” Tsuna doesn’t specify in what way, but he’ll take that. Conjuring up the changes to Tsu-kun’s outfit, making it more western in very specific ways and when he’s done, the resemblance is even stronger than it normally was. “Who did Mama make Tsu-kun look like? Tsu-kun curious.” 

“One of your ancestors, Tsu-kun. Probably one who managed to sneak into both sides of your family tree. Which isn’t always a good thing, but you and your siblings seem to have lucked out; rather than it being a weakness, you’re much stronger for it.” Tsu-kun gives him a confused look and he ruffles the hair he’d lightened several shades. “I’ll explain better when you’re older. For now, I just need you to be adorable, and chirp when we’re not speaking Italian, sweetheart. When we’re done talking to sensei, we’ll go coax your kaa-chan down and get her fed and her tears dried.”

He carries Tsuna down into the office, and perches him on a pile of cushions that will put him in Reborn’s sightline when the call connects, and then dials the emergency number his sensei had given him years ago. “Shamal - you’re not Shamal. How the fuck did you get this number? He’s the only one who -”

His lips curve into a smile, and Tsu-kun giggles, leaning forward. “Mama’s being silly.”

“Sensei deserves it sometimes, Tsu-kun.”

“Can he really help, Mama? He looks younger than ’matsu and ’tsuru, and they’re only helping Kaa-chan by being cuddly.”

“He’s cursed, Tsu-kun. He’s actually an adult.” He can see Tsu-kun’s ‘oh’ face in the video-in-video window, and smiles. “And I am Shamal, Reborn. It’s a complicated story that involves Flame shenanigans, the Falco, and a new life in Japan. But that’s not why I called. I need someone dead, and I’m willing to pay -” he names a ridiculous sum; it’s something like eighty-percent of his savings, “- and offer a significant number of favours. Including one each from my husband and one of the senior Japanese Clouds.”

“Who. And I’ll take the favours; I have enough money to last me a lifetime.” He winces slightly. “And a husband, really, Shamal? You were an unrepentant womaniser in Italy.”

“Mama loves Tsuyoshi-san lots and lots, strange-sensei-sama. They have Takeshi and Hayato and Haruki and Kousuke -”

“- Reborn gets the picture, little one. I married an Asari, Reborn. I love him a lot, and he loves me both as Lavina and Shamal.”

“- _Hayato_?” He shrugs, and Reborn leaves the query there. “And I assume the little Primo-clone isn’t yours, but is part of the story, Shamal?” 

“Mama is _Mama_ when Mama-shaped, stranger-sensei-sama. If Mama wants to be Papa, Mama would be Papa-shaped.” He shifts enough to ruffle Tsu-kun’s hair. That was a surprisingly nuanced version of how his gender worked for a five-year-old.

“Shh, sweetling. Tsunayoshi is indeed part of the story. He’s the eldest son of my best friend and her husband. Her husband is the one that needs to die.”

“He made Kaa-chan cry, and made her have Tsuruhime and Chiyohime and Kamematsu and Kametsuru and now he’s done it again, and Kaa-chan is hurting so much stranger-sama, and he needs to be made to stop. Kaa-chan doesn’t love him anymore.” Reborn gives him a speaking look.

“Who is it, Shamal?” Tsuna glares at the screen adorably, but he keeps his focus on the Sun Arcobaleno.

“Iemitsu Sawada.”

“And his crime?”

He answers in Italian; Tsuna knows much of what his sperm-donor has done to his mother, but not the details. “The subjugation and rape of his wife. He steals her Will every time he steps into her proximity, drugging her with his Flames until all she can think about is pleasing him.” Reborn winces, eyes flicking to Tsuna. “She’s a Sky, too. Aria’s been tutoring her.”

“Fuck. Do you know what you’re asking me to do?”

“According to Aria, you’ll just be accelerating things slightly, and making sure a more reasonable tenth generation takes power. Not that I care about that particularly; I just want Nana to have the time and space to recover and learn to love the children inflicted on her.”

“Please, stranger-sensei-sama? I just want Kaa-chan to be safe again, and if he lives, she isn’t.” Reborn twitches, and he hides a smirk as Tsu-kun widens his eyes deliberately, pouring on the kawaii. 

“One favour from you, Tsu-kun, and one each from the people who offered them on your behalf. Do you want me to tell him you asked for his death, little one?” He’s not surprised when Tsu-kun nods vigorously. 

“Tell him that he should have asked Kaa-chan for her permission, first.”


	33. Chapter 33

“Reborn -”

“I thought you might like the evidence I was successful. I also wanted to meet the mini-Primo and his mother to see if I might be able to help; she wouldn’t be the first case of Sky sickness I’ve seen.”

“And?”

“I’m tutoring a Sky, and while I have some ideas for some of his Guardians, I wanted to use a favour to see if there was a Cloud who might like to apply discipline to people in Italy.” He makes and amused sound. “Dino’s got a large family, but it’s a ramshackle edifice, and a Cloud willing to terrorise them into behaving would go a long way to keeping the boy alive.”

“Hmph.” He makes a give me gesture, and Reborn theatrically hands him a bag almost as large as the Arcobaleno, evidence that his mentor has a Mist secondary he conceals to the best of his ability, and he does his best to avoid flinching when it contains _exactly_ what he’d expected it to. “Did you really have to bring me his head and cock, Reborn?”

“I wanted you to _know_ that he’s dead.”

“Evidence acknowledged. Now dispose of it properly.” He thrusts the bag back into Reborn’s hands and it vanishes back into the Mist space that he’d used to smuggle it through the airport. “And don’t you _dare_ show that to Tsuna, any of his siblings, or his mother.” Reborn makes a face at him, but inclines his head.

“So do I get to meet the little Primo-clone?”

“Later. I need to introduce you to Kyō-tan, first. He’s Fon’s nephew, and if I don’t, we’ll get bitten to death by the most adorable baby-Cloud you’ve ever met.” Reborn raises an eyebrow at him. “His territory, in his own words, is his kit’ns, and he’s avaricious about adding to his ‘clowder’.”

“… how old is he?”

“Six. He first acquired Hayato-kun and Takeshi-kun when he was eighteen months old, give or take.” 

“I don’t think I’ve ever met an Active Cloud that young.”

“He’s his mother’s son. She’s the one that you’ll need to ask if she has any Cloudy cousins that might want to bite Italians for a few years.” Reborn laughs, and he shakes his head. Obviously it’ll take Reborn being mobbed by Kyōya’s kit’ns for him to _really_ believe him. “I think they’re probably in the compound in the kiddie dojo.”

Reborn holds his arms out, and he shakes his head and picks the little menace up and puts him on his hip, the same way he’d carry one of his children. “Ok, now I believe you’re a parent. They’re the only ones that ever try and carry me like this.”

He shakes his head and carries his mentor from the restaurant back into the compound, and through the winding mess of gardens to the dojo that Kyōya had claimed as the kit’n nest. (Tsuyoshi had explained that the compound had once been the home of a clan of hundreds, and the dojos had been treasured and well kept as a result, buildings that had been retained because they’d been warded and constructed to last, unlike the homes.) They can hear the giggling before they even step foot in the room, and at Reborn’s insistent tug, he drops the Sun, allowing him to choose how he’s introduced to the clowder. He on the other hand, just strides in, and is swarmed, Hayato vaulting over the others to be the one in his arms.

“Papa, did you bring us a new kit’n?” The question comes from his little Storm, and he crosses the dojo to the large pile of cushions and sinks into it before they get the idea to pull him down to the floor. “He’s all bright and Sunny and not-loud like Ryohei, and ’kura-kun needs a Sun -”

“He’s not a kit’n, sweetheart.” Takeshi crawls into his lap, and Tsuna moulds himself to his side, and then Kyō-tan tilts his head, and he shakes his. The Cloud grins and slips out of the dojo. There was going to be a loud shriek within a few minutes, and it was going to be hysterical.

“Is the Sun your sensei, Papa?”

“He was my sensei. Apparently he’s currently sensei to one of Aria-chan’s peers, Tsu-kun.”

“Kamikosoru!”

“… I warned him.” A chaos-shot bounces off one of the protections on the dojo, and there’s a loud thump, and the sounds of a scuffle outside of the building. Tsuna giggles, and snuggles closer. “What have you been studying this morning, Hayato-kun?”

“Kanji with Irie-san and then Aria-chan took me, Tsuna and ’kura-kun to practise with our Sky Flames. Nana and the tiny Skies are still with her for storytime.” There are more crashes, and Reborn swears in Italian, which has him snickering; as he’d said, he’d warned the Sun about Kyōya. “It sounds like Kyō-kun is having a lot of fun, Papa. Should we go and rescue your sensei?”

“No one’s screaming, Haya-kun. What have you been up to Takeshi? Have you done your sword kata this morning?” The little Rain nods eagerly. “Good boy. How did you do on your kanji this morning?”

“They were hard, papa, but I did okay, I think.” Takeshi rubs his cheek against his chest and he doesn’t resist the urge to pet his step-son. The boys are being adorable. “Are you sure we should let Kyō-kun terrorise your sensei? He’s been awfully bite-y in training the last few days.”

“If he succeeds in biting Reborn to death, sweetheart, he’s welcome to do so. Reborn won’t seriously hurt him. He’s like your Fon-jii.”

“Oh.” 

“I believe this is yours, Shamal?” Reborn’s temporarily in his adult form, obviously happy to use his Mist Flames for comedy effect, and holding a yowling, grumpy Kyōya by the collar.

“At least by adoption, yes.” Tsuna giggles and scrambles out of their pile of bodies. The little Sky is already starting to radiate his Flames even as he scampers across the room to calm his Cloud down. Kyō-tan hisses and wriggles in Reborn’s grip until Tsuna lays hands on him, and then calms, and Reborn drops the illusion of being adult-sized, shrinking to smaller than the boys. “You look a bit battered, Reborn?”

“Tsunayoshi?” His little sky looks at Reborn, all sorts of serious. “He’s dead, sweetheart. He can’t hurt your kaa-chan any more, and he _knew_ what he did before he died.”

“Good.”

“Mmm. Can I bring my new student to visit you, Tsunayoshi? He doesn’t understand why he needs to be his Family’s Sky, and I think you can probably explain it better than I can.”


	34. Chapter 34

He and Reborn are in his study, Reborn explaining more of what was currently happening in Italy, including the state of the Falco - thriving under Bianchi and the couple of trustworthy under Bosses who had stuck with her, and not at all interested in a run away former mistress who might or might not have been pregnant - when Tsuna slips into the room, yawning, and scrubbing at his eyes.

“Papa? Yakari is hungry, and she’s refusing her bottle.”

“Then I’ll just have to come feed her; Reborn, you’re welcome to come and meet my younger children.”

“I’m curious.” 

He takes that as a yes, Reborn will follow him up to the nursery; he shifts forms as easily as breathing, and Tsuna bounces. “Mama carry Tsu-kun? Tsu-kun needed a nap, but Yakari-chan woke Tsu-kun up.”

“Of course, kit’n. Is everyone else napping?” He lifts Tsuna up onto his hip, and kissing the tiny Sky’s forehead.

“Uh huh. Yakari-chan woke Tsu-kun up inside Tsu-kun’s head.” He sighs, and sticks Tsuna to his hip a little more firmly, and triggers his ability to lactate.

“I may have to change which seal is on her, sweetheart.”

“Tsu-kun doesn’t mind. Yakari-chan is cute. Kyoko-chan might mind, in a few years, though.”

“But you need your sleep, too, sweetheart. If Yakari-chan is hungry she needs to poke me, not you.” Tsuna rests his head against his shoulder, yawning, and he opens the door to the nursery. Both sets of his twins are fast asleep in their shared cribs - Byakuran once again snuggled between the older two, who may already by harmonising with him - but his and Eiko’s surprise daughter is entertaining herself with her Mist Flames - or possible Eiko’s; he’s not sure exactly how much of herself Eiko had poured into the attempt to save Takeshi - but makes a greedy hungry little sound when she feels his presence, one that has his milk letting down immediately.

He drops Tsuna to the floor, the little Sky rubbing his eyes sleepily and yawning, stumbling towards the nest of pillows the oldest of the children used in place of individual beds. He picks up Yakari, her brilliant blue eyes blinking at him (he’d dived into her genetics on a whim, and had been surprised to find her eyes would stay that color, but it had given him an idea of what to name his pretty surprise) and his daughter latches on as soon as she’s within range of a nipple. “Spoilt little thing. You poke Tsuna because you know I can’t resist him, don’t you?” His daughter, his beautiful lapis eyed princess burbles at him. “Gorgeous little menace.”

“You’re developing a lovely little power base, Shamal.” He twitches at the reminder that Reborn’s in the room with him and the little ones. Even if he had invited him to ‘meet’ the babies, that still didn’t mean that he was entirely comfortable with the hitman being in their vicinity without constant supervision.

“Mama is _mama_ -shaped, Reborn-san.” The words are both pointed and yawned; it’s quite funny, and he grins into his daughter’s hair as the oldest sane Sky in their little clan told off one of the world’s strongest like it was something everyone could do. 

“It’s not meant to be a power base, Reborn, and it’s okay Tsuna-kun; Reborn is a very Italian male; the idea of gender having nuance isn’t easy to get into their heads.”

“I feel insulted, Shamal.”

“Reborn-san does understand about op-erat-ion-al security, right? Even Kura-kun understands that -“ Tsuna yawns again, and burrows into the pile of bodies - that was suspiciously large; it probably contained Tsuna’s entire infant set - until he’d completely vanished from sight, under blankets and his Elements.

“Oh, Tsuna. You really shouldn’t bait him.” He sighs and shakes his head. “He does have a point, Reborn; if you can’t understand it as a gender issue, consider that I have an entire identity as Lavina, and I gave birth to my boys in hospital, as Lavina; when the boys go to school, I will drop them off as Lavina, and she’s technically a more legally real person than my male self is. I would like to keep that identity intact, which includes not teaching the little ones to use the wrong name for me before we can explain the necessity of keeping certain secrets.”

“Hmph.” Reborn waved a hand and climbed up the outside of the largest crib in much the same way as Kyoya did and peered at Haruki, Kousuke and Byakuran. “You know there are people looking for the albino your older twins are cuddling, right? His Family’s only a minor one -”

“They can go spin on a dick; his Mist brought him to me. He’s got something akin to the Giglio Nero’s gift, and his Mist ‘borrowed’ it. With me is the safest solution he could come up with.” Reborn gives him a look that makes him laugh hysterically, much to Yakari’s annoyance, expressed by a gummy bite to the nipple she’s nursing on. “Sorry sweetheart.” He pets his daughter’s head gently, and crosses to the rocking chair in the room, settling them both into it. “The other options mostly ended in Mafia wars. Really messy ones that killed ninety-five percent of Flame Users, including you and the other Arcobaleno.”

“Really?”

“ _Really_.” He shapes his Flames, using them to show Reborn what Torikabuto had managed to scrape together the Flames to show him a few weeks prior; it had given him nightmares that had left him curling up with Tsuna’s set for the comfort. (The Mist had cooed at Byakuran’s attachment to his older twins, and had held out a tiny fragment of Rain Flames to Chiyohime who had reached back, then smiled at him.) 

Reborn visibly _winces_ and makes a touché gesture. “I’ll keep your secrets, Shamal.” A vaguely grumpy growl comes from the direction of the pre-schooler pile. Leon crawls off Reborn’s hat, onto the edge of the crib he’s still perched on, and transforms into a pager. Reborn checks the screen, and then pokes Leon who shifts back again. “We going to have some high entertainment in a few hours, _Lavina_. My student’s come scampering, and he’s going to find the kittens a … handful.”


	35. Chapter 35

The kit’ns tumble into the restaurant - most of them at least; the youngest five were still working on locomotion and were in their cribs according to his mosquitos - just in time to greet the pre-teen Sky entering through the front door, and it’s _chaos_. (Given the way Reborn’s snickering, he knows exactly who set this up.) The boy’s poor bodyguards look shell shocked, and the Sky himself ends up under a pile of small bodies, two tiny Skies poking at his semi-latent Flames. Kyōya bounces over to him, and he shakes his head amused as the little Cloud holds his hands up to him to be picked up. Once Kyōya’s in his arms, the evil little brat grins beatifically at Reborn and holds out a small hand. Sighing, the Sun Arcobaleno puts a miniature pair of tonfa in it, and Kyōya smirks and cuddles the weapons.

There’s a certain amount of confused distress radiating from the Sky under the pile of bodies, and he takes mercy on the bodyguards. There’s only two, both of them in their early twenties, and teetering on the edge of bonding with their charge but holding themselves back for some reason. “The worst they’ll do is get his Flames to react, gentlemen, and my husband’s restaurant is neutral territory. _Enforced_ neutral territory. You can relax.”

“Romario, Bono, this is Lavina Yamamoto; her husband is Autumn Rain, and she’s the guardian to what, five Skies and four Clouds at this point?”

“Depends on whether you count Nana’s brood or not, Reborn. She’s getting better, but I’m still doing most of the parenting of them with Tsuyoshi’s assistance. If you do, It’s five Skies, one secondary Sky, two Clouds, and three with secondary Cloud Flames.” His mentor waves his hands dismissively as if to imply that it didn’t make any difference.

“ _Six?!_ ”

“There’s a few more of both types in utero.”

“You haven’t told them the best bit, yet, Lavina. Don’t worry, they know what I brought you.”

“Kyō-tan says that’s was the _best_ birthday present, Reborn-sensei.” He groans, making the Cloud - being deliberately cute - giggle. “What? It was. Now tenjō-tama’s kaa-chan will get better, and haha-ue, kaa-chan and ji-san will have a tenjō-chan of their own.” He flushes at Kyōya’s words. 

“You showed _Kyōya_?!”

“You didn’t say not to. And he is a Cloud; he was happier knowing the threat to his Sky was gone.”

“Kyō-tan not traumatised, kaa-chan. Reborn-sensei only showed Kyō-tan bad Sky’s head.”

“Why anyone lets you near children, I do not understand, Reborn. And you’re sure?”

“You’re all my students. If they let your secrets slip, I’ll slit their throats myself and install you somewhere safer and let you finish raising their Sky.” Romario and Bono look even more shell-shocked and he shakes his head at his teacher’s over the top nature.

“I doubt you’ll need to go that far, Reborn; they’re achingly close to bonding with Dino.” He puts Kyōya down on the bar and unravels Lavina. “That’s one secret; the parentage of my eldest is obvious if you look beyond his birth certificate, and the last is that the oldest Sky I guard is Sawada Tsunayoshi.”

“ _Hibari_ Tsunayoshi.” Kyōya has the tonfa in the attack position and he sighs and ruffles the Cloud’s hair again.

“Have you asked anybody about that, Kyō-tan?”

“Haha-ue wrote paperwork f’everyone last week.” He facepalms. It’s the only appropriate response. “Itoko-sama asked how many dependents Haha-ue had to claim, and she included the kit’ns, and kaa-chan and ji-san, and he laughed and put his seal on it.”

There’s a flare of Sky Flames from the direction of the kit’n pile and an indignant sound, and the two Cavallone look like they’ve been hit with one of Tsuyoshi’s larger unbutchered fish. “S’better. Safe to let our Flames out in Namimori. Haha-ue and ji-san and Kyō-tan make it safe. They bite anyone who take advantage.”

“Your ward is a treasure, Shamal. I’ve been trying to get him to stop suppressing those since I took the contract.” Leon shifts in the little menace’s hand and he pokes the two Cavallone with the resulting stick. “Do I need to shoot you two, or are you going to be adults about this?”

“Adults.” He snickers at the chorus and Flames unravel from both men, Sun and Mist twinned around each other that quiets _something_ in the back of his head.

“Bono, I’ll run you through some training exercises before you leave; you’ll have your hands full and a few extra tricks will help.” There’s another yelp from the pile of kit’ns and Dino’s Flames flare and unfurl further, and he sees the moment their Flames connect, and it makes something in his gut - cold and dark and heavy despite knowing Iemitsu was well and truly dead - curl in fury. His eyes flick to Reborn, who surprises him, reaching out to him with Sun Flames, intended to warm him back up again.

“Despite what you may think, I can watch over your kit’ns. Go, take your husband upstairs and calm down, Shamal.” Kyōya smacks him gently with his tonfa, and he sighs, and Tsuyoshi laughs and puts his knives down, taking off his apron and washing his hands, twitching his Flames and shutting the restaurant; it had been empty anyway. “Aren’t you due for another set of kit’ns, anyway?”

“ _Reborn_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _**Omake: Dino's PoV on this scene** _
> 
> “… this is where Reborn said to meet him, right?”
> 
> “There’s certainly enough Mist Flames around the place. I’m not sure I could get you out of there in a hurry if it’s a trap, Boss.” 
> 
> “Reborn wouldn’t summon us into a trap, right?” Romario facepalms, and opens the door of the restaurant, peering in, and then stepping inside; he follows, toeing off his shoes - Bono had _lectured_ him about etiquette and made him practise with chopsticks on the flight over, and he was trying to make a good impression - and putting one of the sets of slippers on. 
> 
> The moment he steps into the restaurant properly, it _feels_ like Home. And then he goes down under a swarm of small bodies, led by two Skies and he makes a squeak he’ll deny until his dying day (or Reborn gave him Skullitis, like he’d threatened). “Reborn-sensei brings the _best_ presents.”
> 
> “Present?”
> 
> “Mmhmm. Kyō-tan wouldn’t let Tsu-kun see the present Reborn-sensei brought, but said it was really good.”
> 
> “Kura-kun curious. Why Tenjō-tama no let Flames out like Tsu-kun and Kura-kun? Haf to be uncomfortable bottling it up -”
> 
> “- tenjo-tama is Dino-kun, ’member?” Three sets of Rain Flames curl over him, gentle and soothing and clearly siblings, no threat; even he could tell they were all bonded to one of the two tiny Skies on his chest. They do ease his panic, though. Something prods his Flames gently, with a far lighter touch than Reborn had ever used. “Flames don’t haf to be about fighting, Dino-kun.”
> 
> “But they’re a Mafia thing -”
> 
> “Does Tsu-kun look like Tsu-kun Mafia? Does kaa-san or tou-san? Being a Sky just means Dino-kun can look after Dino’s own.” There’s more prodding at his Flames, a third set of Sky Flames curling around his, and one of the Skies on his chest makes a satisfied sound. “Hah. Tsu-kun thought Tsu-kun felt two bonds! Dino-kun shouldn’t be so mean to Dino’s own. Sky Flames meant to be _shared_ with those who are Sky’s own -”
> 
> His Flames twitches, unfurling, another Sky’s Flames guiding them, and he makes an incoherent sound as he can suddenly _feel_ Romario and Bono _properly_. _This_ is what Reborn and his father meant?! Tsu-kun pets his face, the miniature Primo beaming at him. 
> 
> “Isn’t that better, Dino-nii? We get lots and lots from having our own, too. And yeah, the Mafia is scary, but could Romario and Bono-san walk away? Kaa-san and tou-san have to work hard to live between the two worlds with Haha-ue’s help. Maybe Dino-nii can work on what his Family does. Some bits of the Ukiyo are _needed_ -”
> 
> He shuts his eyes and whines, making the three Skies cuddled up to him giggle. “Kura-kun think Dino-nii will like the Cloud Kyō-tan found for Dino-nii. Sometimes Kikyo-kun is Kura-kun’s, but Kikyo-kun will like Dino-nii’s horses and scaring people so Dino-nii doesn’t have to.” The Mist Flames around the restaurant flicker, and the oldest of the three Skies pokes him again. “Dino-nii come through to the kit’n den and curl up. Is warmer and even safer there.” 
> 
> He nods, and the Skies curl closer, and he hears a soft ‘oh fuck, when did he start doing _that_ ’ just as the hole pile is transported somewhere warm and soft and comfortable, and he succumbs to a nap.

**Author's Note:**

> Kyoya's Kit'ns  
> tenjo - sky - tsuna  
> kiri - mist - kyoko  
> taiyo - sun - shoichi  
> inazuma - lightning - haru
> 
> (these are Kyōya’s kit’ns, younger than him and compatible with him and his Sky _now_ ; the others will get found/kidnapped/appear too. Ryohei for example will get folded in if he’s a little bit quieter and Kyōya sees him being a good oniisan to Kyoko.)
> 
> * * *
> 
> Akari - Kyoko and Ryohei's mother  
> Yui - Haru's mother  
> Tomoko - Shoichi's mother | Matasuga - Shoichi's father
> 
> otto/shuijin - husband
> 
> * * *
> 
> Children listed under their maternal parent:
> 
> Shamal's - Hayato (m/Storm), Haruki (m/Rain) & Kousuke (m/Rain)  
> Tsuyoshi's - Takeshi (m/Rain) + Makoto (m/Rain) + Isamu (m/Rain)  
> Eiko's - Takeshi (m/Rain) + Yakari (f/Mist)  
> Nana's - Tsunayoshi (m/Sky), Tsuruhime (f/Cloud), Chiyohime (f/Sky), Kamematsu (m/Sky) & Kametsuru (f/Sky)  
> Tomoko's - Akiko (f/Sun) & Shoichi (m/Sun)  
> Mei-Lin's - Kyōya (m/Cloud) & Arami (f/Storm)  
> Yui's - Haru (f/Lightning) & Akito (m/Lightning)  
> Akari - Ryohei (m/Sun), Kyoko (f/Mist) + unnamed boy  
> Setsuna Kusakabe - Tetsuya (m/Lightning)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Collection] E-Rated Scenes from "Lavina | Shamal"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18706405) by [Night-Mare (Aoife)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aoife/pseuds/Night-Mare)




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